Starlight in Green Eyes
by CCSandwich
Summary: Scientist Castiel Novak never expected his time machine to transport him 5,000 years into the future. Nor did he expect to be saved by a 10,000 year old vampire, Dean Winchester, when he arrived. Flung into a world of spaceships and vampires, it's a wonder Castiel retains his sanity. But then he starts to fall in love with Dean and discovers that his future may not be all bad...
1. Chapter 1- Introduction

Well, here's my first chapter. I'm not sure how good this is… I randomly thought of it a month ago and wrote down the idea. I'm only just now writing the first chapter… And just so you know, I was writing this while watching the Frozen episodes of Once Upon a Time, so that's why it's set in November and it's chilly.

So, this may be my first fanfic published, but I actually have a lot in progress or ready to be edited. I will publish them if I get a good response to this one.

Just a warning: there will probably be smut in later chapters. And I mean waay later. I actually want to chapterize this fic and make it awesome. Also, chapterize isn't a word.

So anyway, this is a Destiel fic, and it's kind of terrible. Even so, I'm optimistic I'll get lots of reviews! (I know y'all love Destiel. I ship it too, don't worry. Why else would I write a fic for it?)

The whole fic is rated M, however:

Chapter one is rated T for cussing and my attempt at storytelling. This is un-beta'd so don't judge me on any spelling and grammar mistakes. Instead, review and enjoy!

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><p>Castiel sighed as he shut the fuse box. Even if his research facility was one of the well-funded in the country, there was still a massive apartment complex a few miles away that they shared a power grid with. The power went out all the time. The government had assured Castiel and his assistants that they'd fix it, but they were currently using their electricity funding for Area 51's extraterrestrial program.<p>

He pulled his lab coat tighter around him, the chilly night air permeating the thin fabric easily. November in the part of New Mexico close to the Colorado border was almost freezing. Castiel stared up at the many stars glittering above him. He used to want to be an astronaut, to fly in a spaceship out to the moon and beyond, but NASA had canceled the program before he had finished college and he never got the chance to go up there. He sighed, his breath visible. The scientist opened the door and headed back into the research facility. Castiel shook his head at the shocked faces of his assistants when he arrived back in his lab.

"You're like, amazing if you can get the power back on that easily," said his newest assistant. She'd been in the lab for a month, and was the most annoying thing that Castiel had ever encountered.

"Thank you. I'm going to go work now."

"You got it, boss. Have fun," his other assistant said. Castiel ignored them both and went into his office.

Only a handful of people knew what exactly they were researching. Everyone in the town with the apartment complex just thought they were some kind of food processing plant, so they left the scientists alone. Little did they know that the facility was actually housing one of the most valuable research programs that the United States government was running.

It was a well-protected facility, with 200 soldiers patrolling the perimeter. There were fifteen armored tanks, seventeen watch-towers. It almost seemed like a prison to Castiel. He was allowed to leave, but he just lived in one of the facility's dormitories. He had almost no personal possessions and no family to speak of, so it made sense to live where he worked than have to drive all the time and go through security checks every day.

It made sense, all of the security. If what they were researching got into the wrong hands… Well, it'd be very bad.

After all, the power to change the visit the past and future could have some very negative effects on the world-as-we-know-it. Castiel Novak and his assistants were researching time travel.

They had somehow managed to build a working machine and had succeeded in transported inanimate objects. Castiel had expressed his concern about the time-space continuum, so the government had implemented a rule that they were not to transport anything back in time. This led to the creation of a machine that they hoped and assumed would only have the capability to transport things to the future. Immediately after, Castiel had set the time to five minutes in the future and had set his pen in the transport chamber. It had disappeared, and reappeared in the chamber exactly five minutes later.

After this discovery, the assistants had pranked each other by putting the other's watch or pen in the machine and transporting it five minutes into the future. That had been funny for a while until Castiel told them that if they did it anymore he'd wipe their memories and send them to work elsewhere, one at Wal-Mart and one at McDonalds. That shut the both of them up for a while.

Castiel had never successfully sent anything living forward. The first time they had tried to send a lab-grown mouse that one of the assistants had named Lucky, the mouse ended up very unlucky. And in pieces. Everywhere. The second one was left intact, but the shock of time-travel caused it to have a heart attack. A few weeks later, a fly had accidentally flown into the machine and popped out an hour later, weakly buzzing. The assistants frantically scribbled down notes, and then Castiel had sent them outside to catch grasshoppers.

They had sent ten grasshoppers through the machine, which had caused absolute chaos in the lab when they reappeared. After the soldiers had been brought in for some small, moving target practice, they had tried again with another mouse. To the scientist's chagrin, they got the same result from before. Castiel had tweaked his calculations and tried again, but it was hopeless. Nothing beyond bugs could be sent through, and right now they were in a dry spell in their research.

"Boss?" One of the assistants peeked his head through the door, snapping Castiel out of his reminiscing.

"Yes? What do you need?"

"I'm going to leave for the night, and so is Megan." Oh, so that was her name.

"That's fine. Come back tomorrow at the usual time; we'll find something to work on."

"Sure thing. I know you live here and all, but will you be okay by yourself?" the guy asked. Castiel somehow managed a smile, although it probably seemed more like a grimace.

"Yeah, I'll be okay. You go home and get some sleep. By the way, what time is it?"

The assistant checked his watch. "1:30 a.m."

"Lovely," Castiel said, wiping his face. His assistant smiled sympathetically and left, lightly closing the door behind him. The scientist sighed, and got to work on his computer.

2 hours later, he awoke to a beeping noise. It was his computer, letting him know that he had exceeded the page limit. Castiel raised his head to see the 40,649 pages of random letters and groaned. His original paper was unsalvageable. Sighing, he gave up on it and closed the document, hitting the "don't save" button. He stood and went to the door, opening it and heading to the lab. He frowned when he saw the time machine. One of his assistants had set it to 5,000 years. Castiel scoffed. Had they tried to send something through?

He went over to the machine and stared at it. It was vibrating, like it was alive. Castiel cocked his head to the side. It had never done that before. Leaning to look at the control panel on the other side, he set his hand on what he thought was the table. Immediately the machine whirred to life, beeping frantically. Castiel looked at it, confused. Then his eyes widened as he saw that his hand wasn't on the table. It was on the flat glass portal that the item to be sent was placed on.

"Shit!" Castiel tried to pull his hand away, but it was too late. Just as his brain's "Let go!" connected with his arm, the machine's sending alarm blared. Castiel caught a glimpse of a long, blue tunnel before he blacked out.

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><p>Hello, everyone! I hope you liked my first chapter!<p>

Review and give me suggestions, as this is my first chapter and I have a few more up my sleeve ;P

Peace out,

CC.


	2. Chapter 2- Not in Kansas Anymore

I have 3 follows on my story I'm so happy :3

Anyway in honor of Thanksgiving, here's my second chapter.

I'm thankful for all 3 of the people who followed my story. I won't let you guys down :3

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><p>Chapter 2: Not in Kansas Anymore<p>

Castiel woke, gasping. He sat up and immediately laid back down. The oxygen content in the air was way too low, and he gasped for breath. The air around him was filled with red dust, collecting on his white lab coat. He struggled some more, but was ultimately defeated by the need for air. Castiel spread his arms, no longer gasping. His brain felt like lead and his body felt like air.

A bright light appeared above him, and Castiel smiled. It was just so pretty… His body started moving upward towards it, and then he was in a white room.

"Get me an oxygen tank!" Someone yelled. The last thing Castiel saw before he blacked out were concerned green eyes with a strange tinge of red.

"…llo? Hello! Bobby! He's waking up!" Castiel slowly opened his eyes and groaned. Everything hurt, especially his brain. He felt like he had that one time in college the morning after the hardest drinking party of his life. He tried to sit up but was pushed back down by a strong, tan arm. A man in plaid and a baseball cap with a beard was looking at him concernedly.

"Don't try to sit up. Here's some water," he said, holding the cup to Castiel's mouth. The scientist drank hungrily.

"Where am I? Who are you?"

"You're on a ship," the man said,

"In the ocean?"

"What do you mean, in the ocean? Don't you know that the oceans are gone? They evaporated a long time ago. Dean, I think he's been reading too many history books."

"I don't know, Bobby. He sounds pretty convinced." A man emerged from the shadows. His eyes looked familiar, and Castiel realized that he was the one that he had seen in the light.

"You're…" Castiel began. The man sighed.

"Yeah, yeah, Dean Winchester, oldest living vampire in this universe and captain of the spaceship _Impala_. Everyone knows me, goddammit."

"You're not making any sense," Castiel said, sitting up. "There's no such thing as vampires, nor is there any spaceship called _Impala_ in Earth's orbit. NASA canceled the space program five years ago."

"What kind of random space drug are you smoking? NASA's gone, as is the rest of the U.S. government. The only thing out here now is us, _Amaterasu_, and _The Avenger_. And there is too such thing as vampires. All of the ships are run by vampires." Dean looked like he thought Castiel was stupid.

"I've never heard of such a thing. The U.S. government is doing just fine. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go back to my lab."

"That broken down building we found you in? There's nothing there anymore. There hasn't been in about 5,000 years."

"Five thousand years?!" Castiel asked. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Dean," Bobby said, beckoning the man closer. He whispered something in his ear. The vampire paled. He turned to Castiel.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Castiel Novak," the scientist said, a little bewildered.

"Holy shit," Bobby said. "The story was true."

"What? What story?"

Dean sat down on the hospital bed next to Castiel. "Five thousand years ago, a scientist who worked in the building that you were found in disappeared. He was one of the most valuable researchers in his field, but no one knew what exactly his research field was. The U.S. government kept it all under wraps, but then, fifty years later when the nuclear war began, the files came out. Apparently, that scientist had been researching time travel technology. Naturally, that scared the living shit out of everybody, so they burned the building that the scientist had been working in. It was an old hollowed-out shell by the time they were done. No papers or anything were salvaged, not even the machine prototypes."

Castiel looked paler by the minute as Dean continued. "Then, the vampires of the world came out to humanity. One of our powers is to be able to tell the future as far as how old we are. I, being the oldest, could see 5,000 years into the future at the time. I saw the state the world was in, and I took action. The vampire council and I put billions of dollars into building three massive ships that would carry a billion people each. America and England got the _Impala _and _The Avenger_, and Asia got the _Amaterasu_. It took us 50 years to completely build them. By then, the Earth's population was down to about 3.5 billion.

"We decided which world leaders would be best to bring, and then we did a study on fertility. We brought six million highly fertile humans on each ship, and then we held a lottery to determine who else would be able to come aboard. There were about a million vampires back then, 300 on the council, so each ship got 100 for the crew. I helped build and named the _Impala_, so I got the choice of who could be on it. I chose my friend here, Bobby," Bobby tipped his hat to Castiel.

"I also brought my family: my brother Sam, my aunt Ellen, my niece Jo, and all of my friends and associates. That left a few extra spaces, so I brought some genius scientists and turned them. By then, they had invented a renewable fuel, and the entire exterior of the ships were outfitted with solar panels. We launched the ships into orbit, and kept some of the vampires on Earth in an underground research facility for the purpose of rehabilitating the nuclear-bomb destroyed Earth. We've been up here for 4,900 years and counting. My baby's still running as good as new." The vampire grinned and affectionately tapped his foot on the infirmary floor.

Castiel sat back, took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. "So you're saying that I'm 5,000 years into the future? And Earth's atmosphere has been destroyed?"

"Yep. I'm assuming you're that scientist that Bobby mentioned? How'd you get here?" Dean asked, raising his eyebrows. Castiel nodded.

"Yes. I didn't think the machine could transport humans… All we could get to go through it were insects and inanimate objects. It was an accident…"

"Well, I guess you're just going to have to stay here," Dean said. "We have all of the United States government's classified files in our archive deck. I'll take you down there and we can see if we can find your notes and sketches about your machine."

Castiel shook his head. "I was supposed to put down all of my research data from the paper copies, but that was the night I transported myself here. I began typing it, but then I fell asleep on the keyboard and created 40,000 pages of random letters. It was completely gone."

"Damn. Well then, I guess you can build it back from the beginning." the vampire shrugged.

"Not exactly. I have a photographic memory, so I could probably recreate the latest version of the machine. However, it's not capable of traveling to the past."

"The government was at least smart about that bit," Bobby said. "They didn't want to test out the theory of the space-time continuum."

"That was smart," Dean said. He turned to Castiel, who was staring at him with a puzzled expression. "What?"

"You said that 5,000 years ago you could see 5,000 years into the future. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if I'm doing the correct math, you're at least 10,000 years old."

"You're not wrong. I was the second vampire in existence. I…have a different appearance than normal vampires. My father was the first, and he looked like a complete demon. I look somewhat like one, but I have a thing about showing it to people."

"It's annoying as hell. It's always me that has to prove to random children that I really am a vampire," Bobby said. "The damn captain of this ship won't even do it, so it's always me or Sam."

"Why doesn't Sam look like a demon as well?" Castiel inquired.

"He wasn't directly turned by my dad. Sam was out hunting when Dad was turned and lost control."

"Wait, you said that you were the oldest. What happened to your Dad?"

"John killed himself," Bobby said. "Damn shame too. He realized what he had done the split second after Dean was fully turned and it was too late. He jumped into a volcano. Dean was 20 when he was turned, and Sam was 15. Dean showed admirable control and held off on turning his brother until he insisted 5 years after Dean was turned. Then, because of Dean's second generation blood, he lost control and turned me and the rest of his family. Dean calmed him down, but we were all turned by then. When we complained about being kept as vampires, they said it was for the best, which was true, because our family doesn't exactly like being separated. Then, some of Dean's friends he turned started turning other people, and the vampire council was born."

"So everyone but Dean looks normal? Or, normal enough?"

"Do you just want me to show you? It might be a bit scary," Bobby said. Castiel scoffed.

"I'm a scientist. I don't really get scared of much."

"Okay. Here goes." Bobby turned away from Castiel, breathing deeply. When he turned around, Castiel gasped.

There wasn't much different about Bobby's face, but his eyes had changed from brown to a deep, blood-colored red. There were fangs poking out from his lip. Castiel stared at him until he turned back, eyes brown and canines back to their normal length. He turned to Dean.

"I think that's the most boring reaction I've ever had," Bobby said. Dean grinned.

"So you drink blood?" Castiel asked. Dean and Bobby nodded.

"Yeah," Dean said. "We have humans who volunteer to become feeders. Now, you seem to be interested in how the whole damn ship works, so how about I give you a tour?"

"I'd like that very much. Can I meet your brother and everyone else as well?"

"You're gonna meet the whole crew, Cas. I'm not looking into the future right now, but I know you're going to be here for a while."

"One more question, Dean. Who exactly runs this thing?" Castiel asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Have you heard nothing I've told you? I'm the ship's captain. I'm the boss."

"He just sits in the fancy chair and pretends he knows how to fly the _Impala_. The person who really keeps her running is Sammy. He's our mechanic," Bobby said. "A damn good one, too."

"Lovely," Castiel said. "I can't wait to meet him."

"He can't wait to meet you, apparently. I got a buzz from him. News travels fast on this ship," Bobby said. He helped Cas stand up and handed him a pile of clothes. Bobby pulled the curtain around so Castiel could have some privacy. When he was done, Dean grinned.

"We're gonna start out with Sammy. By the way, how tall are you?"

"Six foot," the scientist informed him. Dean laughed.

"That's great. Have fun looking up at my brother. He's a goddamn moose, I swear. The only person who calls him that is our ship's cook, Crowley, but I can understand the reasoning."

"Okay," Castiel said as Dean led him out of the infirmary. He brought Cas to a large balcony overlooking an even larger room. It must have been at least a mile wide and ten miles long. The scientist gasped loudly and Dean grinned, sweeping his arms out to the whole room.

"Welcome to the _Impala_."


	3. Chapter 3- The Impala

7 followers on my story! AAAAHHH! *fangirling*

I hope I can get more :3

Will my loyal followers please review and tell me what they think of my story? PLLLEAAASSSE?

Ok, well I must inform you of something. I'm publishing this today even though my decided day is Thursday, but I have a drama competition tomorrow, Friday, and Saturday so I'll be pretty much inactive until next Thursday.

I also want to say that I'm sorry if any of my characters are OOC, I'm not sure if they are but I just want to make sure. Please review and tell me of any OOCness and grammar mistakes (this is unbeta'd but I try my best to correct anything).

Follow, favorite, and review please!

Enjoy and have fun reading! Balthazar shows up in this chapter by the way hehehe. Have fun ;P

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><p>Chapter 3- The <em>Impala<em>

"Holy…" Castiel said, looking at the massive room. "How long is it?"

"Ten miles long and a mile wide. There's 3 of these rooms throughout this deck, and there are three more big decks. The top deck is smaller. We had to fit a billion people each, so there's about 300 million in on each deck, 100 million in each room. Everyone has living quarters on the sides of the rooms, and then the crew has living quarters on the top deck where the control room is. You'll be in the control room with me, Sammy, Bobby, and everyone else. Do you want to go meet the moose?" Dean asked.

"Sure," Castiel said, still wowed by the size of the room. It would take forever to get across it, but it seemed Dean and the builders had thought of that. There were wide moving walkways to transport people. There was a swimming pool, a tennis court, and a field of turf. A large, open-roofed kitchen stood on one end of the room, and next to it was a bathhouse. A large screen covered half of the wall on the other side of the room, and the time and date were projected onto it, along with a map of the ship.

"Hey, if you're done staring, we should go now. Sam gets all bitchy if I'm late for anything."

Castiel nodded, smiling. "You must really love your brother."

Dean grinned. "He's a real bitch sometimes, but yeah. Let's go."

They headed back into the infirmary. Bobby waved at Dean and Castiel, and Cas waved back. Dean gave a 'sup' head nod, and Bobby shook his head. Cas laughed as he followed Dean into a small rectangular room.

"Where are we?" Castiel asked. Dean smirked and tapped the wall. A small rectangular panel popped out and he pushed a few buttons.

"This is one of the ship's teleportation chambers. You might feel a slight tingly sensation." With that, the vampire dissolved into a beam of light. Castiel looked down at his hands and gasped. They were turning into light. He closed his eyes briefly and opened them again to see the vampire looking at him, grinning.

"How was that?" he asked. "We've learned a few new tricks in the past 5,000 years."

"Was that ionized demolecularization at the speed of light?"

Dean looked astonished. "I remember Sam saying something to that extent, yes."

Cas nodded. "I thought so. I'd like to speak to your brother."

"Okay. We're actually on the top crew deck, since I told everyone that you were here. They all want to meet the mysterious new arrival. Sam was the first one who wanted to meet you, but he must have told the rest of the crew. Saves me some work, I guess. Follow me, they're just up here."

"Dean! I can hear you talking to him, now bring him in here!" a woman's voice sounded through the hallway. Dean grimaced.

"That'll be Ellen," the vampire said. "Hold on a minute, old lady!"

"You're one to call me old, Mr. Ten Millennia!" Ellen replied.

"You're only five years younger than me as a vampire, Ellen," Dean said, annoyed. Castiel smiled.

"I think I like her," the scientist said. Dean shook his head and led Cas into the room. Immediately, fifteen different vampires stood and smiled at the scientist.

"Hello!" A tall, skinny man with long hair wearing a plaid shirt made his way over to Castiel and Dean. He took Cas's hand into his own large one and shook it excitedly. "I'm Sam Winchester. I'm a huge fan of your work."

"Thank you," Cas said. "I'm Castiel Novak."

"Nice to meet you!" Sam said. "How exactly did you manage to transport things forward in time?"

"Ionized demolecularization at the speed of light. It's the same concept as your teleporter, but there's a slightly different bit in the formula. I might need your help with it, as I need to get myself back to my own time."

"U-uh, sure!" Sam seemed a little bewildered, but he changed to annoyance when another person shoved him out of the way.

"Hello, Castiel! I'm Ellen, Dean's aunt. I'm the one that was yelling at his dumb ass a minute ago. This," she pulled a little blonde out from behind her who smiled and waved, "is my daughter Jo."

"Nice to meet you both," Castiel said.

"You don't seem to be too shocked by these events," Sam said.

Castiel shrugged. "I'm a scientist. I have learned to accept that the theoretical may indeed be real."

"That's a really good mindset for someone who's not supposed to have one," Sam said.

"Hey, are all you tall people going to get out of my way so I can meet the damn guy?" A small, bearded man pushed his way through the crowd of people, glancing up at Sam. "Get out of my way, ya damn moose."

Sam frowned and stepped back so the man could walk up to Cas. He stood there for a minute, sizing the scientist up. He held out a hand. "I'm Crowley, the ship's cook and correspondent with _The Avenger_. Pleasure to meet you."

"Same to you," Castiel said, shaking Crowley's hand. The Englishman grinned for a quick second before letting go of Cas's hand and turning around, slapping Sam in the side and shoving past him.

Dean laughed, and Sam stuck his tongue out at him. "Jerk."

"Bitch," Dean replied. Cas smiled at the strange exchange, but was interrupted by a new person coming to greet him.

"Hello! My name is Gabriel. I'm the ship's captain."

"What?" Dean asked. Gabriel turned to him and grinned.

"What what?"

"You just fly my baby. I built her, I launched her, and I can kick your ass."

"Fine," Gabriel said, crossing his arms. "I **fly **the _Impala_. Nice to meet you."

A loud noise suddenly permeated the room. Dean groaned. "Damn it. That's _The Avenger_'s ringtone."

He pressed a button and a large screen extended up out of the floor. A face appeared on the screen. It was a man, sitting in a large chair.

"Balthazar!" Crowley yelled. "How've you been?"

"Wonderful, Crowley. Dean, I have heard news of your new arrival." Dean glared at Crowley, who shrugged.

"Yeah, he's right here. What do you want?"

"I'd like to speak to him. I have heard certain words that he has knowledge regarding time travel technology."

"I'm not going to share it with you. I don't even know how it works myself," Castiel said, pushing past Dean to stand in front of the screen. "You see, my assistants and I stumbled on the technology for forwards time travel even before we knew how it worked. We figured out that we could send insects through, but not even mice could be passed through. I don't know exactly how I was able to transport myself 5,000 years into the future, as we had never tried to send anything beyond mice before. And I also do not know how to send anything back in time, if you were planning to go back and change the past to avoid this reality. We were prohibited by the government to do anything that even resembled research into going back in time, as the government did not want to disrupt the then-theorized time-space continuum."

Balthazar looked a little surprised, but he quickly recovered. "So you are saying that you do not know how to send yourself back to your own time?"

"That is exactly what I am saying, Balthazar. I do not know how to send myself or anyone else back in time. Even if I did, the time-space continuum would indeed be disrupted."

"That is still theoretical," the vampire said. Castiel shook his head.

"It's not. I caught a glimpse of the wormhole I traveled through. It was a long tunnel of ever-changing matter. If someone were to…throw a wrench into that matter, the flow of time would forever be changed. There would be no way to prevent it, as time would try to keep anything like that from happening again. All of the events in the past would follow the ripple effect. If you stepped on a butterfly in the past, you could very well have killed Picasso's inspiration. If you tried to alter something else, time would take notice to it. Time would make sure that it never happened again, altering the history of the world so that people never found out that time travel was possible."

Balthazar seemed to be considering this. Dean's mouth was wide open, not comprehending anything. Sam's mouth was open as well.

"You just figured out in an hour what humanity has been trying to for years," Sam said.

Balthazar smiled. "Very well. I will expect updates on the theories you will most likely continue to prove. _Avenger_ will be happy to contribute anything out of their archive."

Castiel nodded his head. "Thank you. Was there anything else you would like to say?"

"That is all. _Avenger_ out." The screen turned to black, and Castiel turned around. Everyone was still staring at him open-mouthed.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Dean asked.

"Time-space continuum. Think of it as a small pond. If you lightly touch the water, nothing will happen. If you throw a rock in, there will be a few ripples. If you jump in, the water's flow will be disrupted. That is time-space continuum. If you went back in time and did not come into contact with anyone, that would be the light touch. If you talked to William Shakespeare about how famous his plays would turn out to be, that would be the rock. If you killed John Wilkes Booth before he shot Abraham Lincoln, that would be the person jumping in. Even small things have an effect on the continuous motion of time."

"So you're saying that if we went back, all of this would be prevented?" Sam asked.

"Yes. No one would have any memory of it, except for the vampires who had been looking into the future, as they would see the future before it happened."

"So if you could go back, you could prevent the nuclear war?"

"I wouldn't dream of it," Castiel said matter-of-factly. Everyone stared at him.

"I am a scientist. I observe things in the natural order that they happen. If I were to interrupt the flow of time, I couldn't live with myself."

"Seems fair enough. Do you want to go see the engine room?" Sam asked. Castiel nodded.

"Yes. That would be nice."

"Ah-ah, not so fast, Sammy. I need to talk to him," Dean said. Sam frowned.

"Why do you get to talk to him?"

"I need to explain things to him," Dean said. "And I'm the captain. I get priority."

Gabriel cleared his throat loudly, and Dean rolled his eyes. "I built her, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah," Gabriel said. "Take your pet scientist and have a nice little talk."

Dean led Castiel out of the room, flipping Gabriel the bird.

"Oh, I do love that finger. He shows it to me so often. Did you know he has a scar…" Gabriel's voice trailed off as Cas and Dean headed down the hallway.

"I want to show you where you'll be living," Dean said.

"Lead the way," Castiel replied.


	4. Chapter 4- The Conversation

Holy crap! I have 12 followers! I'm so happy!

Also I'm terribly sorry for not posting this on time, my mother took my computer away and I didn't get it back until 5 minutes ago. I will try to post on time next week to make up for it.

This is a pretty short chapter, but if you guys were wondering what Dean's vampire form looks like this is the closest you're gonna get at the moment.

I love you all!

Please review!

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><p>Chapter 4: The Conversation<p>

Dean led Castiel down the hallway silently. The scientist stared at everything around him trying to figure out what the interior of the ship was made with.

"It's a strong titanium alloy with bits of gold added in, to prevent decay." Castiel started when the vampire talked.

"Oh, that makes sense."

"Pretty genius of my brother, huh? Here's your room," Dean said, pushing a button on the wall. A panel slid away and the vampire walked into the room, followed by Castiel. "It's right next to mine, so if you need anything, I'm a knock or a telecom away. Now, I need to talk to you about the crew."

Castiel glanced at the room. It was sparsely decorated, the largest items in the room being the bed, a large king-sized one, and a dresser. "What's there to talk about?"

"Well," Dean said, sitting on the bed. Castiel joined him. "It's mostly just about Sam. There's something you need to know about him."

"Yes?" Castiel asked.

"He has a sort of…disease, you could say. It's a side-effect of being turned by me. Basically, if he smells even a drop of fresh human blood, he loses control. I'm the only one who can stop him if he does. The thing is, only the crew know about his condition. All of the humans on the ship don't. I don't let him anywhere near the infirmary, and he's only allowed to drink bagged blood."

"Then who turned your family? If you turned them, then they'd have the same disease."

"That's exactly what turned them. The disease. They came from the neighboring village five years after Dad turned to check up on us. The road between the two was treacherous, so they only allowed people to travel it every five years. That was about the time that Sam convinced me to turn him. I was in a tent with him, waiting for a sign that the transformation had gone through, when his eyes snapped open.

"They were red, like mine were when I transformed, but there was something wrong. He growled and ran out of the tent. Ellen had cut herself while skinning a rabbit, and he was on her in an instant. If you drain a human of their blood completely and give them a small amount of your blood, you can turn them. Sam's lips were cut repeatedly by his fangs, so his blood flowed into her as he drained her. Then, he attacked Jo. Bobby came out and tried to get him off of her, but then Sam got Bobby, too. I was only able to stop him by throwing hot coals on his face. By then, he had killed the whole village. Ellen, Jo, and Bobby were all going through the change, but the rest of the people hadn't been so lucky," Dean said. Castiel was listening intently, obviously wanting to hear the rest of the story.

"I took my family to a large cave nearby and collected some of the villager's blood in water-proof baskets. Then, I sealed the entrance to the cave with a boulder I knew no one but me could lift. By then, Sam had regained his mind, and he was on a massive guilt trip. When Bobby, Jo, and Ellen woke up, we gave them enough blood to sustain them until I went out to get some more. We lived in the cave for fifteen years before I was sure that Ellen, Jo, and Bobby didn't have Sam's condition. Then, I took them out and we've been traveling ever since. Sam has built up a resistance to his condition, but if he sees someone cut themselves and smells the blood, he's a goner."

"So how do you get the bagged blood?"

"The vampires on this ship feed off of volunteers. Some of the volunteers who aren't old enough or are too old, we draw blood from them. That's used to sustain Sam and anyone else who isn't good at resisting human blood."

"So what about you?"

"I haven't drunk fresh human blood in a long time, Cas. The others can drink from people without scaring them, but me…My transformation is a bit…different than the average vampire's. I look different, for one."

"What do you look like?" Castiel asked. Dean sighed and shook his head.

"Nothing you want to see. Think of all the illustrations of demons and there you go. It's not entirely accurate, but it'll do. Now, I'd better take you down to the ship's mechanical room. Sam wants you to look at the engine. Oh, and by the way," the vampire said, taking out a small device. He placed it in Castiel's hand. "This is a telecom. It goes in your ear and stays there. They're waterproof, so you can wear it in the shower. It's how we keep in contact with the rest of the ship. All you have to do is think of the person you want to talk to, say their name out loud, and it'll read your brain waves and connect you with the person."

"That's fascinating. Did Sam invent this too?" the scientist inquired. Dean shook his head.

"No, the Japanese did. They're over on the _Amaterasu_. They shared the technology with us right before we launched," the vampire said.

"Oh, okay. Can I go look at the engine?"

"Yeah, I'll take you down there. Don't cut yourself on anything or you'll be in some pretty deep shit."

* * *

><p>"Cas!" Sam exclaimed, waving his hand. The scientist and Sam's brother had taken the teleporter to the engine room and were currently walking down the hallway.<p>

"Hello, Sam. You told Dean you wanted me to see the engine?"

"Yeah, and I want you to tell me what you think of it. I designed it," Sam said proudly. He turned to his brother. "I know the technical words get to you and give you a headache, so if you want to leave, feel free."

"You know me so well. I'm going to go talk to the _Amaterasu_ about Cas. If you need me, I'm a telecom away." With that, the vampire left.

"Here she is. My pride and joy," Sam said. He led Castiel to a large balcony overlooking the biggest engine the scientist had ever seen.

"Oh my…wow, Sam. How did you design this?"

"Well, I have had a lot of time. Do you like it?"

_The Impala_'s engine was a behemoth one, about a mile long and a mile wide. Blue energy crackled in between its receptors, and the massive thing made almost no sound at all.

"It's incredible. I don't think even I could construct something this amazing."

Sam blushed. "Thanks. Hey, why don't I get Crowley to send some food up here and we can talk about your research?"

"That would be nice. I haven't eaten in a while," Cas said. Sam smiled and walked over to the wall, pushing a button. A small chamber opened, big enough for an average-sized dinner plate.

"Hey Crowley? Will you send up a human meal for Cas? He'll take a number 5."

"Alright, ya bloody moose. Always so ungrateful. Can't I get a 'please' once in a while?" came the Englishman's reply. Castiel smiled.

"Please, Crowley." Sam said, obviously annoyed. Cas heard a sigh through the intercom.

"Was that so hard?" Crowley asked. A covered plate shimmered into existence in the chamber and Sam pulled it out and set it on a nearby table. Castiel sat down and uncovered the meal. It was teriyaki chicken, one of his favorite meals. The scientist picked up the fork that was also on the plate and dug in.

"Thanks, Crowley." Grumbles were heard over the intercom, along with something that sounded suspiciously like "Damn moose", but Crowley accepted the thanks and hung up.

Sam came over to sit across from Castiel. The scientist looked up.

"Can I ask you a question?" Castiel asked. Sam shrugged.

"Go ahead."

"What does your brother look like when he transforms? He mentioned something when I first talked to him in the infirmary, and then again just now. Is it really that different from anyone else?"

Sam looked troubled, but he answered anyway. "Well, Dean's got the fangs and the red eyes just like the rest of us. His face becomes sharper, like he was cut from marble or something. He has horns that come out of the top of his head, and he has a tail. He also has wings, big black ones that he can use to fly."

"Is he different because of who turned him?" Castiel inquired. Sam nodded.

"Yeah. Man, you should have seen Dad after he turned. He was possessed by the demon that had killed our mom. I think he was trying to summon it and kill it, but he summoned it into his own body. He didn't even look human. Dean was there when he did the ceremony. I wasn't allowed in the tent, so I just peeked from the bottom. Dad went bat-shit crazy, making these roaring noises. He jumped on Dean and bit him. Dean had the ceremonial knife in his hand and he stabbed Dad in the heart with it right before the change happened. Dad got knocked out just long enough for Dean to escape. Dean looked so scared. Later, Dad regained control over himself just long enough that he became ashamed of what he had done and threw himself into a volcano. Dean stumbled out of the tent, clutching the wound on his neck.

"When he saw me, staring with tears in my eyes, he transformed back and grabbed me. He took me out to the forest and explained what had happened to him as best he could. When I begged him to turn me so I wouldn't die, he refused. Five years later, he finally gave in. He had no idea that turning me would cause my condition. I'm sure he already told you not to cut yourself around me."

"You know your brother really well, don't you?"

Sam smiled at some memory, leaning back in his chair. "Yeah. I really do." He winked at Castiel, who cocked his head to the side questioningly. Sam just shook his head and glanced at Castiel's empty plate.

"Well, as you are done with your meal, would you like to go walk around the engine?" Sam asked. "Everything around it is protected by a special kind of glass, so you should be okay."

Cas nodded. "Yes, I'd love that. Will you tell me how you made it?"

Sam nodded, still smiling for whatever reason that had caused him to wink at Cas. "Yeah, I can do that."


	5. Chapter 5- Trouble

Hello, my loyal followers!

Thank you for so many follows! I'm so happy now!

Ok so it's Christmas season and I am super busy and I don't have access to Word (I need to download it on my Mac) so I won't be able to upload next Friday. I'm super sorry, but I'm going to be really busy and I won't be able to upload. However, I believe the beginning of a romantic hint in this chapter might be able to make up for it.

And no, I do not own the idea of the holo deck. Y'all have Star Trek to thank for that.

* * *

><p>Chapter 5: Adjustment<p>

It was surprisingly easy for Castiel to fit in on the _Impala_. Everyone had been fascinated with him in the beginning, the "miracle scientist" and his time-travel adventures. To Castiel it sounded an episode of Doctor Who, but that was just his opinion.

The scientist was happy on the ship, spending lots of time with Sam in the engine room learning of the astounding technology that the Winchester had built from scratch.

"So what was your real name before you became Sam? You lived 5,000 years in the past, which would place you around the time of the Ancient Egyptians," Castiel said. Sam smiled.

"_Samknahielpharkarae._" The younger Winchester laughed at Castiel's awed look. "Dean and I changed it to Sam about a thousand years later when it got too hard to have a long name like that. Dean's is _Deanhphicalaeiceteo_. You don't even want to know what our surname was."

"That's incredible…"

"Yeah, it's pretty cool. Ellen and Jo have the same long names as well, but theirs are a bit hard to recall. Bobby's is awesome, but I think he'd rather tell it to you himself."

"I look forward to that," Castiel said. "Oh, by the way, I was wondering about how you found me on the surface of Earth. You're pretty far from the surface if you're even in orbit, and it doesn't seem like anyone would be able to drag Dean away from his baby, even for a lowly human."

Sam sighed. "It all started about a month ago when Dean suddenly had a vision. He saw a dark-haired man stumbling around on the surface of the dead planet, and the man looked very familiar. Dean saw the man die on the surface from oxygen deprivation, and that was the end of his vision. Immediately after that, he drew a rather uncanny picture of you and sent out our recon pods to the surface. The search went on for about three weeks before Dean decided to go down there himself. That was the day we found you.

"A small blip showed up on the ship's life force detector, and Dean was sure it was you. We traveled to the blip and sure enough, there you were. They brought you aboard with the tractor beam and Bobby gave you oxygen. You slept for a while, and we spend a lot of time debating who you were. When you woke up, Dean immediately knew you were the one from his vision. It was kind of creepy, the way he knew exactly what you looked like."

"Hmm." Castiel cocked his head to the side confusedly. "Why would he have a vision of me?"

"I don't know, but saving you has been the best thing that's happened to us in a while. I've never seen anyone tell Balthazar off like that. I'd have been laughing my ass off if I wasn't scared that they'd blast us out of the sky and be done with it," Sam said.

"Balthazar wouldn't do that. He'd risk the wrath of Dean for destroying his baby," Casiel replied, scanning the blueprint in his hand.

"That's true. The _Impala_ is like Dean's child. He'd never let her go. By the way, speaking of Dean…" Sam trailed off.

"What about Dean?" Castiel asked, setting the blueprint down on the desk in front of him.

"I had a vision about you two last night. I don't normally get visions, that's Dean's specialty, but I got one, and it was intense as hell."

"What did you see?"

"I saw you and Dean," Sam said. "You were in the _Impala_'s hologram deck and it was set to this beautiful meadow. There was a picnic basket that had food in it. Dean was smiling, you were smiling, and you were holding hands. It was the strongest vision I've had."

"Dean and I holding hands? That doesn't make sense. He doesn't love me, nor do I love him…"

"I beg to differ," Sam stated firmly, smirking. "I've seen the looks you throw at him, and him at you. Vampires feel emotions more strongly and intensely than humans, Cas. Even though you've only been on the ship for a month or two, Dean's already falling hard. He feels emotions the strongest out of all of us. The question is, do you like him back?"

"That's absurd, Sam. I've never been in love in my life. I couldn't afford to. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to review these blueprints," Castiel said, huffing indignantly and picking up another blueprint.

"I saw something else in my vision, Cas. It was Dean, in this room, on his knees. He had some sort of device in his hands that he threw at the wall. He stood up and turned around, and you know what was happening to him?"

"What?" Castiel asked, trying to concentrate on the blueprint. Curiosity's nimble fingers plucked his concentration away from him, and he turned to see Sam with his head in his hands.

"He was crying tears of blood, Cas. That's how we cry. He looked like his soul had been ripped from his body. Then, he looked down at his hand, the one you were holding in the holo deck. He just stared at it, blood flowing out of his eyes. It was the scariest thing I've ever seen, Cas, and I think it was what's going to happen to him after you leave and go back to your own time." Sam stood up and grabbed Castiel's hand, staring into his eyes meaningfully.

"Dean's never been blooded, Cas. I can't tell you what that is or how it happens, but you're going to be the first to do it. I know you're falling, Cas. I can understand it."

Castiel blushed, looking away from the younger Winchester.

"Sam? Cas? I need you guys to get in the teleporter and come look at this." Dean's voice echoed through the telecom, sounding concerned and urgent.

"Sure thing, Dean," Sam said, grabbing Castiel's hand and leading him down the hall. Just before they got to the teleporter, Sam turned to the scientist and grabbed his shoulders.

"Please, Cas. Save him from that fate. I know you can."

* * *

><p>Sam's words echoed in Castiel's mind as they walked to the bridge. The scientist was so distracted that he didn't notice Dean standing in front of him until he ran into that solid chest. Castiel stepped back, a little stunned, and looked up at the vampire.<p>

"You okay, Cas? You seem a little out of it," the vampire said.

"No, I'm fine, Dean. Don't worry about me. What's wrong?"

Dean motioned for Sam and Castiel to follow him. He stopped in front of the big screen and turned to the two men with a grim expression on his face.

"We received a vidcom from our base on the surface. They're supposed to send one each month to tell us how their research is going and any new improvements. Our head scientist, Lucifer, just sent this. I want you to watch it." Dean motioned to Gabriel, who hit a button. The screen came to life, displaying the face of a friendly-looking vampire.

"Hello, _Impala_. This is Lucifer, reporting. The terraform experiment is going well. We think we'll be able to do a planet-wide transformation in a month or so. I believe-"

Static crowded the screen, garbling the scientist's words and distorting his face. It returned to normal after about a minute, but whatever had caused the static had done its damage.

A loud alarm was blaring in the video, a red light mounted on the wall behind Lucifer flashing wildly. The scientist looked grim, fearful, and he leaned into the camera.

"We dug too deep, Dean. We uncovered something that was never meant to be uncovered. Humans affected by nuclear energy in a way we've never seen before. They're not human anymore, _Impala_. They're not even like a vampire. They're stronger than us, faster, and they don't need anything but nuclear energy to survive. They've attacked the base before, but this is the first time they've actually breached it." The scientist looked down at his desk, wiping his forehead on his palm in a surprisingly human gesture.

"We can't stop them, Dean. I can't fight them. So many died trying when we first discovered their faulty bunker. We escaped to the base, but it was only a matter of time before they followed our scent. They're here, Dean. This is the last video I will ever send you. I'm smart enough to know that I'm going to die. I'm sending every little bit of information we have on the terraformation and the mutants up to _Impala_ with this video. This is goodbye, Dean."

A loud thump sounded on the steel door behind Lucifer. The scientist turned around, staring at the door. Another loud sound, and a dent appeared in the thick metal. Lucifer turned back to the camera, a sad smile on his face.

"I need to show you what they look like, so I'll send this video right now. Use the live stream from the base cameras, Dean. You need to know what you're fighting." The scientist pressed a button and the screen turned dark.

"That's not all we received," Dean said, his face unreadable. "We checked the base cameras, like he said. Gabriel, put that tape up."

The vampire nodded and pressed another button. The screen darkened, a black-and-white image of the room Lucifer had been in appearing.

"This is a minute or so before Lucifer sent the video to us. This camera is stationed above his desk. See his head there?" Dean pointed to Lucifer's blonde hair, Sam and Cas nodding.

Then, the door dented, just as it had in the other video. Lucifer turned back to the camera, said goodbye, and pressed the button. He turned the chair around to face the door.

The hinges seemed to blast clean off as the door went flying across to the other end of the room. Something concealed by smoke crept into the room, going toward Lucifer. The man looked up, mouthed a few words, and prepared himself for death. The thing rose out of the smoke and snapped Lucifer's head back, ripping out his throat with his teeth. It spat the scientist's throat out and looked around the room. It looked up, noticed the camera, and stood to its full height. Castiel gasped.

It was a human, or at least looked like one. The long claws on the end of its fingers and the long, bulbous tail kind of ruined the image, but the thing was still humanoid. It looked at the camera with a murderous expression on its face. Then, the creature did something unquestionably human.

It grabbed Lucifer's chair, dragged it over to below the camera, and stood on the chair, sticking its ugly face into the camera lens. It definitely didn't look human now. It lips were missing, revealing black teeth and gums. The eyes were too far apart to be human, and were big and wide. The thing's nose was almost nonexistent. It stared at the camera for a moment before the black mouth curved in a freakish parody of a smile. The creature hissed towards the camera's microphone, smiling even wider as its mouth opened to utter a single word:

"Die."


	6. Chapter 6- Christmas

Hello, my loyal followers! I present to you your Christmas present: a nearly 5,000-word monster to make up for my inability to update during Christmas week. I am terribly sorry about not uploading, but I have made it up to you.

With kisses *snickers*

Also, I wanted to thank y'all for 16 followers! I never thought I'd get this far!

Favorite, follow, review, or do all three at once! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

* * *

><p>"Die," the thing said. Sam and Castiel gasped in unison.<p>

"That's what we're dealing with. With the data from the base, all we've been able to figure out is that they're mostly human. They've been affected by massive amounts of nuclear radiation because their bunker was faulty. They're fast, faster than most vampires, and all have the long claws and tail that the one we just saw had. The entire base is dead. That was one of our fourteen, and the one Lucifer was at was our biggest and most important. Every hope we had for terraforming Earth back to how it was before is clinging by a microscopic strand," Dean said, shaking his head.

"I can do it," Castiel said, recovered from the shock of the mutant's word. "I got a minor in terraformation in college. I thought I was going to be an astronaut before they closed the space program to civilians. That was before the government plucked me out of college after I finished my PhD. Give me the base's research and I should be able to figure out how far they were."

"Wow," Sam said, glancing at Dean. "I guess my brother was right to pick you up off of the surface of the Earth a month ago. Hey, wait. Cas, what day was it when you transported yourself?"

"November twenty-fourth," Castiel said. He remained quiet after that, thinking about the mutants.

"Well it's been a month, so isn't tomorrow Christmas?"

"Yeah," Dean said, distracted by Castiel's expression of concentrated thoughtfulness.

"Can we postpone the meeting with the other ships and celebrate, please? It's not like the mutants can get to us, and the closest base to the one they attacked is a thousand miles away. It should take them more than a day. Please?" Sam begged.

"Sammy, stop it with the puppy eyes. You know I can't defend against those," Dean said, trying his best to resist Sam's eyes.

"Come on, Dean! We haven't celebrated it in forever. The rest of the ship does. What do you think, Cas?" Sam turned to the scientist, waiting expectantly for an answer. Castiel stood there, still thinking, before Sam cleared his throat. The scientist looked up, broken out of the trance known as thought.

"Could you repeat the question?" Castiel asked.

"Sure thing. We haven't celebrated Christmas in millennia because we never had time for it. I want to celebrate it, but Dean's being a hardass."

"Bitch," Dean said, glaring at Sam.

"Jerk."

"I've never had time to celebrate Christmas either, Sam. I believe it's a good idea. I don't know where we'll get the tree, though," Castiel said, laughing at the exchange.

"That's easy," Gabriel piped up. He stood and walked over to the three, smiling. "Dean loved the forests on Earth, so he collected some trees."

"Some?" Sam asked, amused. "He singlehandedly picked up three of the oldest redwoods in California, and then the dumbass went and collected two tons of pinecones and seeds from random forests. He planted them and used the Japanese plant growth stimulator, and now he's got a goddamn forest on that deck."

"Hey, don't diss my forest. Remember what you did the day before we launched?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow. Sam blushed, Gabriel laughed, and Castiel looked confusedly to all of them.

"Sammy here decided to pull a Noah's ark. He got four of each species of animal and brought them on the ship. It didn't end well," Gabriel explained. "The animals started eating each other. The lions ate the zebras, the alligators got the lions, and the sharks got the alligators. Needless to say, the only ones that survived were the parrots. We give them to the families on the ship as pets."

"That's terrible. Why didn't you put them in separate enclosures?" Cas asked Sam.

"I was so stressed about the launch that my body was all out of whack, if that's even possible for a vampire. That morning I ran into three different walls, tripped on my way out of the house, and almost got my hand eaten by one of the tigers I was going to load on the ship. I just wanted the animals to get onto the _Impala_, and I ended up not putting them in separate enclosures. Dean found me fast asleep in the military bunkers a few hours later," Sam said.

"How were you the next day during the launch?" Castiel asked.

"I was fine, actually. I was super hyped up about it. We got into space and I was really happy. And then I got a call from Gabriel that the animals were eating each other, and I became depressed again. Dean cheered me up with the news that the parrots had survived, but I wasn't able to see one of them until nearly a week later. Damn thing called me a moose and then flew away. It was Crowley's parrot," Sam said, glaring at Dean.

The older vampire raised his hands in surrender. "I'm sorry, okay? I thought Crowley's parrot would like you. I was wrong. It was 5,000 years ago, can't you just let go?"

"Where's the fun in that?" Sam asked, laughing at his brother's annoyed face.

"Bitch."

"Jerk."

"Um, hello? Hate to interrupt you guys' quarreling, but we've got a serious problem here. How are we going to get one of those massive trees from the forest deck to this room?" Gabriel asked.

"Gabriel," Sam said with a gleam in his eye. "Do you remember the Patricia incident?"

Gabriel's eyes widened before he leaned his head back and laughed. "I see where you're going with this. I remember Patricia. I'll get on that this instant, but I think you're going to have to take care of the dirty work."

"No problem," Dean said, cracking his knuckles. "It's been a while since I chopped down a tree barehanded."

* * *

><p>"So who's Patricia?" Castiel asked Sam. They both were watching Dean repeatedly punch a tree trunk with his bare hands. So far, the tree was about halfway cut through.<p>

"Have you ever seen the antique kid's movie _Wall-E_?" Sam asked, laughing a little when his brother yelled a war cry and began punching the tree faster than ever before.

"I believe I have," Castiel replied. "They showed it at the laboratory during 'bring your kids to work with you' day."

"I thought your laboratory was a highly classified building. Why would they allow children in there?"

"They don't. However, if you're a high-ranking 5-star general, things tend to lean your way. My boss, the man to whom I had to explain the time-space continuum, brought his kid to work one day because his wife was sick and the daycare had been closed due to a gas leak. One of my assistants had brought the movie in an attempt to cheer me up, and we just put it into the computer used for briefings, sat down in the briefing room, and watched it together. It had an interesting premise."

"Do you remember the humans in _Wall-E_?" Sam asked.

"Yes. They had become so overweight and dependent on their chairs that they could no longer stand."

"We almost had that problem," Sam said, smiling a bit. "All of the humans on the ship are kept on a strict diet designed by Crowley that prevents them from gaining a lot of weight. They're still thin, even after 5,000 years of space. Anyway, about a hundred years ago, there was this girl named Patricia that was born to a family on the third deck. She, for some reason, had this terrible habit of eating. All she did was eat and eat. Crowley nearly had a mental breakdown when she asked him for her fortieth meal of the day. She also refused to exercise and would not budge from the couch in her apartment except to eat.

"It got to the point where she weighed near to 700 pounds. Dean and I talked to her parents, but they couldn't do anything. Well, one day we lured Patricia to the exercise deck with the promise of a huge buffet. She tried to get out of her apartment, but it took her five minutes just to get out the door. She waddled along the street towards the exercise area, eagerly wanting the food. When she got there and found out that we had falsely lured her there to make her exercise, she threw a fit. She jumped up and down and ended up falling over. Dean and I couldn't do anything, because while we could lift five times her weight with the smallest joint on our pinky fingers, we weren't about to help this girl who wouldn't help us. The only problem was, she was physically incapable of getting back up on her feet."

Castiel was smiling now, and Sam seemed to be holding back a laugh. "She sat there wiggling and trying to right herself, but it wasn't working. Eventually I had to come up with something to pick her back up. As you know, the ship has transporters. Well, even though we didn't need it, Dean had rigged the transporters up to be able to transport anything on the ship from point A to point B. He got the idea from Star Trek, something I won't ever let him hear the end of. Gabriel knew about the system, so I called him and said 'Hey, we have a slight problem on the exercise deck. Think you could beam it to Bobby wherever he is in the infirmary?"

Sam looked almost pained from holding back a laugh this long, and Castiel was on his knees snorting like an idiot. "Gabriel transported her to the infirmary and Bobby got rid of all of the extra fat on her body. Then, he told her she was an 'idjit' and gave her a strict exercise and diet regimen. Needless to say, Patricia learned her lesson after that. She lived to be ninety five, a pretty good age for someone who was that overweight at a certain point."

"I feel terrible for laughing, but it's funny," Castiel said, gasping for breath.

"Don't worry. Dean and I thought it was funny too. We use the story to scare people who are tipping the scale too much. Speaking of Dean, I think he's done."

Dean was carrying the large pine in one hand, the other pressed to his ear. "Gabriel? Yeah, beam me up, would ya? Don't forget the tree." He disappeared in a flash of white light, leaving Castiel and Sam to take the long way: walking up the hallway to the nearest transporter and going to the bridge.

"Ooh, it's beautiful, Dean-o. Now we just have to decorate it." Gabriel said.

"Leave it to me," Sam said.

"Um, how about no, Sammy. The last time you decorated a Christmas tree, you ended up using air fresheners from some stupid hotel we were staying undercover in," Dean said. Sam pouted and shot him a bitch face, but Dean wouldn't have it. "We have a ton of Christmas stuff in storage, I've just never touched it. Cas and I will go get it while you stay here and trim the tree."

"Stay here and trim the tree…What am I, his personal gardener?" Sam muttered as he walked over to the tree, assessing which branches needed to be cut.

"Come on, Cas. Let's go get some Christmas stuff." Dean motioned for Castiel to follow him into the transporter.

"We haven't been to this area of the ship in a while, so we'll have to take the long way. The ship will take us to the proper deck, but we have to walk our asses down the hallway to the storage room. You okay with that?"

"Yes. I prefer walking to anything else. It calms me down, allows me to think. I'm currently trying to figure out the mutants, but I've been distracted by the holiday spirit, it seems. Your brother is too persuasive for his own good."

Dean laughed. "Yeah, he really is. Our mom died when we were really little, and Dad made me promise to look after Sammy no matter what. He's my little brother, even if he's two inches taller than me. You ready?"

"Yes," Castiel said. Dean input the coordinates and stood back, sighing when the transporter enveloped them in golden light.

"It'll take about five minutes to get where we're going," Dean said. Castiel nodded in acknowledgment.

"Not to pry, but how did your mother die?"

"I can tell you that after you tell me some things about yourself," Dean said, winking at Castiel. "You've heard all about my life, but what about yours? All I've heard is the scientist part."

"My dad disappeared when I was four. I don't remember much about him, but he gave me something." Cas pulled at the chain around his neck, revealing a small vial of something black. "He left a note saying it was a good luck charm, but I should never open the vial or I would have to deal with the consequences. Then, he left me and my mother all alone. Mom took the loss hard. She went into a depression, not eating or sleeping or going to work. She just… sat there in the corner, staring at nothing. My grandparents came over to take care of me while Mom was out of commission, feeding me and helping with housework. When Mom came out of the trance, my grandparents insisted on not letting her out of their sight. They ended up living with us. When I was older, around ten, I decided I wanted to be an astronaut. I was a class higher than I should have been and ended up graduating high school at 17. I went to college and got my PhD before the military approached me. Apparently, some test I took as part of a survey for college students had been an IQ test. I had tested out with the highest recorded IQ in fifty years.

"They said they wanted me for a project that only someone as intelligent as me could help with. I wanted to make some money to send home to my grandparents and my mother, so I said yes. I only found out it was a time travel project after I got to the laboratory and there was a DeLorean on the military's patch for that lab. I understood the reference, Mom having been a fan of _Back to the Future_, and then they told me I was going to be researching time travel."

"Wow. Your life is a lot more interesting than mine," Dean said. Castiel snorted. "Anyway, I owe you the story of how Mom died. When I was five years old and Sammy was six months, we were sleeping in the tent peacefully. All of a sudden, Mom got up and walked out of the tent. Dad was still asleep, but I wasn't. When Mom didn't come back after maybe five minutes, I woke Dad up and told him that Mom had left to go somewhere. He got out of the tent and followed her. About half an hour later, Dad came back brokenhearted. Mom had been looking for a piece of obsidian on the side of the volcano for a new knife blade for Dad, and she had tripped and fallen in. Dad didn't seem affected, but I heard him crying in the tent weeks after it happened. Back then, my people believed everything was connected. They also believed that there was a spirit for everything. Dad cursed the volcano spirit, blaming it for what had happened. When he summoned that demon that turned him into a monster, he was under the impression that he was summoning the volcano spirit so he could talk to it. Hey, we're here." Dean pressed a button on a panel next to a large metal door. The door slid open with a hiss and a small creak, protesting the sudden opening after years of being closed.

"They should be in the back right corner of the room. The cryogenic boxes should be labeled 'Christmas' and should all be either green or red," Dean said, heading over to that area, Castiel on his heels.

"Here we are," Cas said, catching sight of a green box. He picked it up and was looking for the word 'Christmas' when the light vanished. A loud clang sounded over by the door.

"Dean?" Castiel called, unable to see in the dark.

"I'm here," Dean said. He, not being entirely human, could see. He grabbed the scientist's hand. "The door closed. I don't know why, but I'll call Gabriel to come get us."

Silence fell like a blanket in the room until Dean groaned. "What?" Castiel asked.

"Stupid Gabriel. He says he can open the door manually and let us out, but he won't do it unless we…do something."

"Do what?"

"Kiss. Stupid guy, I should have called Sammy. Now he's shut off our comms. Gabriel! I know you're tapped in to the cameras in here! Let us out or so help me God, I will rip that door apart," Dean said.

While Dean was busy making threats, Cas felt a flush fill his face. Sam had obviously told Gabriel about Castiel being maybe, slightly… ok, totally in love with Dean. He made a mental note to attempt to murder Sam before the day was out.

"Are the cameras in here night vision?" Castiel asked.

"Yeah. This room's usually kept dark to preserve energy, so the cameras can see in the dark. Gabriel! Open the goddamn door this instant!"

"Maybe… Maybe we should do what he wants, Dean. I mean, it's the Christmas season. He's probably putting mistletoe everywhere around the ship as we speak. Lots of people are going to be forced into kissing each other."

"That is true. He forced Bobby and Crowley to kiss a while back. So, you're really serious" Dean raised his eyebrows before remembering that Castiel couldn't see them.

"Yeah," Castiel said. "I'm serious. Let's just get it over with."

Dean's hands left Castiel's and moved to the scientist's face. He used one to grab Cas's chin and the other slid behind the scientist's head, twining itself in his hair.

"Dean…" Cas said breathily.

"Close your eyes, Cas. I can see you staring at me." The scientist did as told, blushing even more at the husky edge to the vampire's voice.

Their lips met softly in the darkness, not moving, just pressed together. Castiel gasped as Dean pulled him closer, sliding his tongue along Castiel's lower lip and asking for entrance.

Dean smelled like pine trees and rain, and the scent made Castiel dizzy. He noted that the vampire tasted like cool spring water and forest air, and that fact alone made him slide his hand behind Dean's head and pull him closer, letting out a breathy moan when Dean's tongue touched his.

They kissed for perhaps a minute longer before Dean pushed Castiel away. "I…I can't do this. I'm sorry, Cas. Gabriel, you sorry sonofabitch, we kissed! Let us out!"

The door slid open. Dean grabbed all of the Christmas boxes and walked out, leaving Castiel sitting alone on the floor wondering what the hell just happened.

As soon as Dean's footsteps could no longer be heard, Castiel raised a hand to his lips. He could still taste Dean and feel that strong body in his arms. A blush spread across the scientist's face.

"I just kissed a ten thousand year old vampire, didn't I."

"Yup," Gabriel said through Castiel's comms. "You should make a parody of 'I Kissed a Girl'. And don't tell me you didn't like it. You totally did. So, I guess I just revealed to you where I got the nickname of Trickster. I don't know if Dean told you about that. Anyway, I'm sure Sam will want to hear all about the kiss."

Castiel growled, and Gabriel laughed. "Don't worry, I won't tell. Aww, Dean-o abandoned you, I see. I'll give you directions to the transporter nearest to you and you can come up to the crew deck. I'll help you and Dean decorate the tree. Come on, get up, stop acting like a schoolgirl. The transporter's out of the room to the right and down the hall.

* * *

><p>Gabriel decided that forcing Dean and Castiel to kiss was the best and worst thing he could do. The pair were now terribly awkward around each other, blushing and sneaking little glances when the other wasn't looking. If they made eye contact, their eyes would widen and they'd hastily turn away, pretending to concentrate on decorating the Christmas tree.<p>

However, the little atmosphere of sexual tension was stifling. Sam had dragged Gabriel aside and asked him what the hell had happened about an hour ago, and they'd been suffering in shared silence ever since.

"Great job on trimming the tree, Sammy," Dean said.

"Thanks, Dean. I'm glad you remembered the Christmas decorations."

Dean managed to keep a poker face, choking out a laugh. "Yeah, no problem."

Castiel, however, did not have that much control over his facial features. The blush from earlier that had finally gone away had returned full-force as he recalled the events in the storage closet.

Castiel had decided that he really did like Dean, even though it had just been a month. He hadn't hated the kiss, even though it wasn't under the best circumstances, and he'd somehow managed to admit to himself that he wanted more. Dean was just so…_ addicting_. Those bright green eyes, the beautiful (and soft) lips, the blindingly white teeth. And his smiles…

_Yep. I'm in love with him. No doubt about it. I sound like such a lovesick schoolgirl._ Castiel shook his head at himself. He snuck a glance at Dean, admiring that beautiful dirty blond hair. His gaze traveled down the vampire's body, making note of the cute way Dean's legs were bowed.

A snicker sounded from across the tree, and Castiel stared through the branches to see Gabriel giving him a thumbs-up and a wink. He gestured toward Dean and mouthed "you were checking him out and it wasn't subtle at all'.

Castiel felt his face heat up even more as he sputtered and flipped Gabriel the bird.

"Dean, you've been rubbing off on him," Gabriel said, fully aware of the double meaning. "He just flipped me off."

"You probably deserved it," Dean mumbled, aware of the double meaning as well.

Castiel glared at Gabriel and went back to decorating. Gabriel would wink at him whenever they made eye contact, and that just pissed Castiel off even more. Eventually, he ended up chucking an ornament at the vampire after he made a kissy face at him.

The ornament hit Gabriel square in the forehead and stuck there. The vampire seemed shocked for a minute but began to giggle after a little bit. Sam roared with laughter, which caused Dean to look up from his obsessive decorating. That started another round of laughter, and even Castiel let himself laugh. Before long, they were all on the floor wiping tears from their eyes.

"I can't believe it stuck," Cas managed to gasp out. That started another round of giggling.

When the group finally collected themselves, they resumed the decorating. Dean and Castiel weren't as tense as before, but they still snuck glances at each other when they thought Gabriel and Sam weren't looking.

Needless to say, the Moose and the Trickster saw it all.

When the tree was finished, they put the angel on top and sat down. Dean sent Crowley a message asking for eggnog.

"Wait a minute, if all the animals killed each other, where'd you get the eggs?" Castiel asked.

"Crowley brought cows, chickens, sheep, pigs, dogs, and a lot of other livestock aboard the ship when we launched. Because he's the cook, he needed something to cook with. He's kept his little farm all by himself this whole time. It's remarkable, really."

"Alright, here's your eggnog, boys. I put extra rum in yours, Dean," Crowley said over the intercom above the food transporter. Dean grabbed the tray of eggnogs and set them on the small table in front of Sam, Gabriel, and Castiel.

"Crowley serves it as a special during this season to the humans," Sam said to Castiel, who took a sip of the eggnog.

The scientist moaned at the creamy taste of the drink, something he hadn't had in years. The rum only added to the flavor.

Gabriel barely held back a snicker as he saw Dean react to the moan that had escaped from Castiel. His eyes widened

When they had finished, Gabriel was the first to stand up and stretch. "We need to go to bed, or Santa's not going to come!"

"You really still believe in that crap, Gabe?" Sam asked, laughing.

"No, but I'm tired, and I needed an excuse for us to go to bed," Gabriel replied.

"Ok, ok, we'll go to bed," Dean said. "Come on, Cas. Let's walk to our quarters."

Castiel blushed, but he wished Sam and Gabriel a hurried 'good night, Merry Christmas' before following Dean to the transporter. They walked in silence, transported themselves in silence, and walked in silence again. When they got to their rooms, Castiel had given up hope that Dean would talk to him.

"Hey, uh, Cas?" Dean asked, stopping just outside his room.

"Yes, Dean?" Castiel replied, wondering what Dean was going to say.

"About the kiss…"

"Don't worry about it," Castiel said. "It was Gabriel's fault."

"No, not that. I… I liked it," Dean said, embarrassed.

Castiel's eyes widened, and his feet moved of their own accord. He walked up to Dean and pressed his lips to the vampire's, pulling away after a short eternity.

"Good night, Dean. Merry Christmas," Castiel said, going into his room and closing the door.

Dean walked into his room, sat down on the bed, and sighed.

"Shit."

* * *

><p>The next morning, Castiel shuffled onto the crew deck in his pajamas, as per Gabriel's request. Apparently, he and Sam had been talking last night and wanted this to be like an authentic Christmas. So, they'd rudely awoken him this morning to tell him to show up in his pajamas. Castiel had no problem with this, but he wished they'd woken him up later. He'd been up all night thinking about the kiss, and had only managed three hours of sleep.<p>

Gabriel had gone to wake Dean up, leaving Cas and Sam alone by the tree. Castiel was surprised to see that there were a lot of presents under it.

"So, you and my brother, huh?"

"Oh, please. It was Gabriel's fault. Besides, you're the one who wanted us to get together."

"Touche," Sam said. "I surrender for the moment, but only because Gabe's coming back with Dean."

"Okay, let's get this present party started! The other crew members said I could wake them up on pain of death, so I'll just send their presents to them later. Cas, this one's for you," Gabriel said, pushing a box toward the scientist.

He also grabbed Sam and Dean's presents, sliding them over to the vampires. Gabriel grabbed his present and smiled.

"Ok, on the count of three. One, two, three!" All four ripped their presents open and groaned collectively.

Castiel had received a bottle of spiced rum, Dean received a bottle of whiskey, Sam received some schnapps, and Gabriel received vodka.

"I told you we shouldn't have let Crowley be the only one to give us presents," Sam said, shaking his head.

"Sorry," Gabriel said. "You guys can go back to sleep now."

Castiel praised the heavens, wanting nothing more than to go back to bed and sleep for maybe four more hours. He ambled back to his quarters, yawning 2.5 thousand times along the way.

"Merry Christmas, sleepy," Dean said, smirking.

Castiel half-heartedly glared at him before walking into his quarters and shutting the door. Dean stood there smiling for a little while before he went to his quarters as well.

Castiel lumbered over to his bed and collapsed on it, stretching. It felt good to have a Christmas after so long, even if all he'd gotten was alcohol, but there was still the mutant problem. The scientist yawned. _I'll just work on it whenever I wake up later today._


	7. Chapter 7- The Archives

I'm so sorry! I'm two days late, I feel terrible as a writer when all of you are depending on me for more space vampires. To make up for it, I have this wonderfully library-ish chapter. I tried to include some humor, but I don't know how well that turned out. I just want to say that me being late will probably be a normal thing from now on, sadly. I'm going to just go ahead and say that I will update every week on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. If I don't upload, I'm probably just watching Supernatural haha.

Anyway, enjoy!

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><p>Chapter 7- The Archives<p>

Castiel awoke later Christmas Day and decided to stay in bed for fifteen more minutes. Fifteen turned to twenty, and twenty to an hour. Eventually, the scientist wasn't sure he could stay awake any longer. He needed to work on the research about the mutants, not sleep the day away. Yawning, he opened the computer on the desk in the small room.

"Let's see… Where's the research from Lucifer's base?" Castiel asked, scrolling through pages of information. He looked through the computer to no avail, unable to locate the research.

"Hey, Sam?" He said into his communicator.

"What's up, Cas? What do you need?" The vampire replied.

"Where's the mutant research? It's not on the computer you gave me the other day. I can't find it anywhere."

"I didn't download it on that computer. It's still in the archives. You're going to have to go down and get it. The only computer it's on is Gabriel's on the crew deck," Sam said.

"Why didn't you download it? I thought you wanted me to do research and try to figure out how to kill them," Castiel said, scrolling through the computer again.

"I do, but there's someone on this ship I don't trust. If they got ahold of the research and gave it to either _The Avenger_ or _Amaterasu_ before we had a plan to kill the mutants, there'd be chaos. The archives are only accessible by me and Dean, and Gabriel's computer is encrypted. Only he can read what it says," Sam explained.

"Who don't you trust?" Castiel asked.

"His name's Alastair. If it were up to me, he wouldn't be on this ship, but Balthazar insisted. He's the other correspondent for _The Avenger_. If it helps you, he's about a thousand times worse than Crowley."

"Seems terrifying."

"Yeah, he's not a nice guy. Balthazar insisted that he be put on the ship, much to Dean and I's chagrin. Crowley may be annoying, but he's a good guy. Alastair's evil," Sam said. "I'll take you down to the archives whenever you want. Just send me a comm."

"I'd like to go now. If I don't get moving and research something, I'm going to fall asleep again," the scientist admitted sheepishly.

Sam laughed. "Sure thing, Cas. I'll come get you right now."

"Thanks," Castiel said. He closed the laptop and stretched, groaning when what felt like fifteen different places on his spine popped. He pulled his pajamas off and replaced them with a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt that had been in the pile deemed "mysterious clothes that keep appearing in my room". After kissing Dean, Castiel had figured out that the clothes were all from said vampire. They smelled like him, something Castiel would never admit he'd noticed and taken advantage of. He totally wasn't inhaling the scent from the t-shirt deeply. No way.

A knock sounded on the door as Castiel sighed, the mirror revealing the usual gravity-defying state of his black hair. It looked slightly more messy than usual, when he actually managed to make it look presentable. However, Castiel didn't feel like dealing with it this morning. Or afternoon.

Another knock resounded through the room and the scientist sighed. "Coming!" He decided just to pretend like his anti-gravity hair wasn't there. The scientist opened the door to a smiling Dean.

"Dean? I thought…"

"Yeah, Sammy was supposed to come get you. Believe me, I know, but he called me earlier to bitch about how he didn't want to come up here and 'you're right next to him, you take him to the archives. Smaller trip for me.'. Stupid Sammy."

Castiel laughed. "He's lazier than he looks, apparently."

"He really is," Dean said, smiling even wider. "A real couch potato."

"Couch moose," Castiel corrected. Dean grinned.

"So, you ready to go to the library?" The vampire asked, offering his arm. Castiel took it, smiling.

"Sure thing," the scientist replied. "Lead the way, kind sir."

They arrived at the archives shortly after, Dean having recieved an urgent message from Sam, who was apparently already down there. That caused a series of grumbles about "stupid Sammy" and "if he was already going why'd he drag my ass out of bed" that had Castiel giggling. When Dean glared at the scientist, it only made him laugh harder. Dean tried his hardest to hold it together, but it was in vain. The image of the usually serious scientist reduced to giggling like a common schoolgirl was incredibly hard to resist. Eventually they were both laughing their asses off and finding it hard to walk.

Castiel wiped tears from his eyes as he tried to pull himself together. Dean was still chuckling quite a bit, but he managed to pull it together. He and Castiel walked through the door of the archives and lost it again.

Sam was waiting outside the door in all his long-haired glory. He had horribly hilarious bedhead. He looked like a lion, his hair defying gravity in a way that Castiel was oh so used to. However, when it was on someone else's head, it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen. Both he and Dean collapsed on the floor, laughing as hard as they were capable of.

"Oh, shut up, you two. Cas, your hair is worse than mine," Sam said indignantly.

"No," Castiel gasped, still laughing. "Mine isn't that bad. You look like a lion!"

Dean had almost managed to pull himself together, but it was too much. He rolled around on the floor, laughing so hard he couldn't breathe.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm hilarious. Can we get to work now?" Sam asked, trying to go for stern but ending up having to disguise a smile.

Dean and Castiel laughed for a minute longer before they finally pulled themselves together, wiping tears of laughter from their eyes.

"So, we're not in the actual archives yet," Sam explained to Castiel. "Right now, we're right outside. Only Dean or I's blood can be used to open the door, and then there's another door beyond that only we know how to open. We'll tell you, but you can't get to it without one of us. Dean?"

The older vampire sighed, raising his wrist to his mouth. The unmistakeable sound of flesh tearing made Castiel wince. Dean lowered his wrist to the door, dipped two fingers in the blood, and drew a strange pentagram. The blood began to glow, and the door slid open. Castiel noticed that Dean's blood disappeared right as the door opened all the way.

"Alright, follow me," Sam said, walking forward.

"So who's Alastair?" Castiel whispered to Dean.

"Oh, I guess Sammy told you about him. He's a correspondent for _The Avenger _but he doesn't have Crowley's charm. Balthazar insisted, even though I didn't want him over here. He's been trying to get into the archives for years, but Sam and I won't let him. We put the blood lock on the door right after we found him trying to break in 50 years ago. Sam only mentioned two locks, but there are actually three. Alastair may be smart, but he isn't very sneaky. I heard him coming down here while we were laughing. He was listening when Sam was talking about the locks," Dean explained.

"So the first is a blood lock, what about the second?" Castiel asked.

"We're actually there right now," Sam said. "It's a password-encoded door that has a slight twist. Only Dean or I can touch the door to put in the password. Anyone else, a laser comes from the ceiling and will chop their hand off."

Castiel's eyes widened at the statement, but he remained quiet. Sam entered the passcode, and they passed through that door unscathed.

"The third lock is the trickiest one," Dean said. "It's another blood lock that has different requirements. You need my blood and the blood of a human, any human."

"Doesn't that set Sam off?"

Dean smiled sadly. "That's the worst part. That blood lock is the only way to keep the archives secure without putting even more doors and locks. A hundred years ago, it would have set him off, but if you and I are quick and I'm able to heal your wound immediately after we put our blood on the door, he won't be affected."

"We're here," Sam said. He walked over to the corner and sat down with his face against the wall. "Dean is capable of stopping me, Cas, but I could hurt you first. However, in order to get the mutant research, I'll be able to hold back."

"Bite your own arm, Sammy. That'll make you nauseated enough that you'll be able to resist, even if it's just a minute longer," Dean said.

The vampire turned to Castiel and held out a small knife.

"Why don't you just bite my arm instead of me cutting it?" Castiel asked, cocking his head to the side.

Dean shook his head. "Just cut your arm on the count of three." The vampire raised his wrist to his mouth. "One, two, three."

Immediately, Castiel cut his wrist. Dean guided him, and together they smeared their blood on the door. Dean pushed his wrist to Castiel's cut, his blood sealing the wound.

"Are you guys done? I can still smell blood," Sam said, sounding strangely strained and in pain.

Dean looked over at Castiel. "I think your blood is still on the blade."

"I'm not wiping it on my shirt. That's disgusting," Castiel said matter-of-factly.

"Hand it over," Dean said. He took the knife from Castiel and stared at it for a minute.

"Will you please hurry? I don't know how much longer I can hold back," Sam said from the corner.

Dean looked at the knife for a second longer, shrugged, and licked the small stripe of blood off of it. His eyes widened as the taste hit his tongue, and for a minute, Castiel could have sworn he'd seen a flash of red in those emerald eyes.

"Thank you," Sam said as the door opened. He strode into the archives before turning around and raising an eyebrow at Castiel and Dean.

"Are you two going to stand around all day, or are you going to come here?" Dean snapped out of his trance and smiled at Sam.

"Sure thing, Sammy. We're coming." He walked towards his brother, Castiel on his heels.

"Welcome to the archives," Sam said, gesturing around the room. Castiel's eyes widened in awe.

It was a gigantic room with bookshelves from floor to ceiling. On one side, there was a large screen with what could only be a computer operating sytem on the desk below it. The other side was just books, books, and more books. One wall had floor-ceiling bookshelves, and the other wall had small, strange pods on it.

"What you're looking for is on the computer over there," Sam said, gesturing to the screen. Castiel walked over there and was delighted to find that it was a system he was used to.

"Let's see… Mutants…" He murmured, scrolling through the databases on the hard drive. He located the file and let a triumphant smile take over his face, even just for a little while. Dean smiled and began to walk over to him, but Sam's hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Don't bug him while he's working, Dean. He won't be able to concentrate on what he's supposed to be doing if you're over there cracking jokes the whole time. Let's just go hang out over by the books, okay?"

Dean rolled his eyes. "Fine."

They went over to the book section and settled in a pair of comfortable chairs. Sam grabbed a copy of _To Kill A Mockingbird_, and settled down to read it. Dean amused himself by making paper airplanes of the "Welcome to the _Impala_!" pamphlets they gave to new families relocating from the other ships. He then proceeded to throw the paper airplanes at Sam, becoming even more amused when the trademark bitch face made an appearance.

Castiel had successfully located the data on the mutants, and was studying it to see if there was a way to kill them. He'd also found Lucifer's journal, and was currently reading it to see if he had written about the mutants at all.

_Entry 1: We succeeded in capturing one of them today. It killed my assistant with its tail and almost took my head off. We knocked it out, finally, and took it back to the lab in order to find out what they're made of. My lab assistants and I were shocked to discover that the thing was originally human, though I had suspected for a while. Its genetic makeup was like nothing we'd ever seen before. It looked like vampire cells, but they had a strange cell wall that looked almost like a virus. We ended up killing the subject, and it was a couple of weeks before we got another one. The lab lost five consecutively before we figured out that the mutants cannot survive in an environment with no radiation. They're so used to it, so used to being exposed, that they can't live without radiation._

_Entry 2: We've discovered a way to kill them. I had the idea to drop a radiation measurement device into the bunker we'd found them in. We discovered that they thrive best when the air and earth are extremely poisoned by radiation. We captured another and stuck it in a room with no radiation at all. It died in under five minutes. My fellow scientists and I began to work on a machine. It was similar to an atomic bomb, but it would nullify any and all radiation in a hundred-mile area. My laboratory will be ready to test a miniature version of this radiation bomb momentarily._

That was it. The rest of the journal was blank. Castiel sighed in disappointment.

"Well, he was working on some kind of radiation nullifying bomb, but the journal just cuts off after that," Castiel said, turning to Dean, who was trying his best to land a paper airplane perfectly on the line of Sam's parted hair. Sam, who was trying his best to read the book in his hands, sighed in annoyance when another failed flight landed over the page of the book he was trying to read.

"That sounds interesting," Dean said, "But I don't know how we'd build it."

"Well, Lucifer apparently had a prototype or at least a work in progress going at the laboratory, so we might not have to build it from scratch. We will have to go to the surface to retrieve it, though."

"We have to get the Council's permission for that. Dean already broke the rules when he was on the surface looking for you," Sam said. "If the Council finds out that we concealed the mutant situation from them… They'd kill us."

"Can't kill me," Dean said smugly. Sam rolled his eyes.

"Well, yeah. You're the senior Elder. But they can and will kill Castiel."

"Should we call a meeting to inform the Council of the mutants?" Castiel asked.

Dean sighed. "We should, but I don't want to. Oh well. We'll call them in by hologram and you can explain the situation and the plan to them, Cas."

Castiel nodded. "I can do that. If Gabriel will translate for me, I can just take the information off of his computer."

"Sure," Dean said. He got up out of the chair, snatched Sam's book and set it on a coffee table, and stretched.

"Let's go call a meeting."


	8. Chapter 8- The Calm Before the Storm

First off, I owe all of the followers of this story an apology. Last weekend, I was tired and didn't want to write, update, or even think. I had a pretty hectic week during which I had to write a separate paper for two classes, and that just killed my creativity. I've also been doing afterschool drama practice to prepare for our upcoming showcase. I know I'm in no position to make excuses, so I'd like to apologize for updating so late _

Anyway, this is going to be a very short chapter, and I'm sorry, but that's how it is.

I should also tell you that expecting something every weekend is probably not a good thing. I'm a straight-A highschooler who would like to keep it that way, and I'm not allowed to have my computer in my room after 8 p.m. so I'll go to sleep. I think for now, just expect some pretty hectic updating times.

This chapter is very short, and I'm sorry I couldn't come up with more to appease you for the 2 week discrepancy, but I need some time to write the meeting scenes because I'm gonna have a hell of a lot of dialogue and characters to include and it's gonna take me a while.

Don't worry, if I don't update next weekend, I won't keep you waiting another week. I promise.

Thank you for 22 followers! I'm so happy and thankful!

Anyway, enjoy the chapter.

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><p>Chapter 8- The Calm Before the Storm<p>

Calling the meeting was taking up all of Dean's time, so Sam and Castiel spent all of theirs in the archives. Castiel worked on his speech about the mutant research with Sam's help. Sam knew all of the vampires that were going to be present at the meeting, so he assisted Castiel with using the right words.

"They're not going to appreciate you talking there. You're a human that we picked up off of the surface and called our own," Sam said. "They won't want to listen to you at all. Dean will force them to listen, but you need to be compelling enough that they actually pay attention."

"I once gave a speech about time travel to a room of old military men. I made one of them cry with my description of how time works. I think he was drunk," Castiel mused thoughtfully.

"Vamps can't get drunk, Cas. You're out of luck."

"Then help me, Sam. What will they listen to?"

"They're probably just going to ask a lot of questions. You probably don't even need a speech. Just be able to answer all of their questions correctly and they'll listen to you, I promise," Sam said.

"I'm still worried, Sam. What if they don't like me?" Castiel asked, eyes wide. "I know I shouldn't be worried about that, but I can't help it. I'm not nervous to tell them anything, I'm nervous that they'll hate me."

Sam laughed. "Don't worry, Cas. If you got my brother to fall in love with you over the course of a month or two, you can get a room full of millennia-old vampires to like you."

Castiel blushed. "Does he really?"

Sam sighed. "You're being awfully schoolgirlish at the moment, Cas. Yes, he loves you. We went over this already."

"I know, and we kissed, but… It doesn't seem like he actually wants to act on those feelings, Sam," Castiel said, sitting down defeatedly.

"He's scared he'll hurt you, Cas. Dean may put on a tough exterior, but he can't stand to see those close to him get hurt. It nearly rips out his soul every time he's had to stop me in the past. If you haven't already blooded him, and you will, he's afraid he won't be able to resist you. He's afraid of hurting you," Sam explained.

"But I'm fine. I've been in three car crashes and two fires. I was also transported five thousand years into the future. I think I'm capable of taking a beating," Castiel said.

"I don't mean like that, Cas."

"Then how do you mean it?"

Sam sighed again. "Look, I'll give it to you straight. Dean's afraid of hurting you while you're in bed together. Having sex. Ugh, I should not have said that. Now I have a mental image that I'll need a holy water brainbrath to get rid of." While Sam lamented the 'horrifying' images filling his mind, Castiel was blushing harder than he ever had in his entire life.

Dean wanted to have sex with him but was afraid of hurting him?

The longer the scientist though about it, the deeper the blush became. He knew he wanted Dean, body and soul, even though it had only been a month. The fact that Dean wanted him back gave him butterflies in his stomach that hadn't fluttered since Hannah Mills in the eighth grade.

"I can hear you thinking, Cas, and I'm warning you to stop it before you get any bad ideas. Yes, Dean wants to sleep with you. Yes, he loves you. But getting him to admit it will be a thousand times harder than getting a room full of ancient vampires to let you go to the surface to find a radiation bomb that we're not sure even exists."

Castiel sagged, sighing when he remembered that he actually had to convince the vampires to let him go on this crazy mission. "Never mind Dean, do you think I can convince the others to let me get the radiation bomb?"

"You'll be fine, Cas," Sam said, patting the scientist's back reassuredly. "If they heckle or outright deny you, Dean will take care of the rest. I promise. He's pretty scary when he's angry."

Castiel brightened up. "If I fail and they piss him off enough, will he reveal his vampire form?"

Sam shook his head. "No, Cas. Bobby, Ellen, Jo and I are the only ones who've ever seen his real form. He won't reveal it to those other guys. He'll transform for you, though."

"How can I get him to?" Castiel asked, gathering the stuff to take back to his room and memorize.

Sam winked, opening the door to the archives. "Ask nicely."


	9. Chapter 9- The Meeting

Hello, my beautiful (24 of you oh my god) followers! I have returned with an update!

Behold, the meeting chapter. Prepare for awesomeness.

Warnings: Cussing, sexual references, violence, bigotry, Sabriel (it's cute though, don't worry) and Destiel (what else did you expect?)

Anyway, enjoy, review, do what ever the heck you want!

Have fun!

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><p>Chapter 9- The Meeting<p>

"So, who all is going to be at this meeting, Dean?" Castiel asked the vampire. He, Dean, Gabriel, and Sam were on the crew deck, awaiting the members of the meeting.

"From the _Impala_, you, me, Sammy, and Gabriel. From _The Avenger_, Balthazar, Anna, Michael, and Alastair. We got lucky with the Amaterasu. They're sending Kevin and his mom and that's it."

Castiel cocked his head to the side. "Who's Kevin?"

"Smartest vampire I've ever met," Sam supplied helpfully from the corner of the room, putting down the book he'd been reading for close to three hours. "He looks like a teenager, but he's really 6,000 years old. Don't let the outward appearances of any of these guys throw you off. A lot of them are older than you'd think."

"Yes, Sammy, thanks for that information. Cas, just tell them what you go into that room to tell them and don't say anything more. They'll try to interrogate you, coerce you into revealing information about the time travel. All you need to do is convince them to let you and a team of vamps go to the surface and get that radiation bomb," Dean warned.

"They're some pretty nasty sons of bitches," Gabriel said from his seat in front of the computer.

"Gabriel, shut up," Dean replied,

The pilot raised his arms in mocking surrender. "What? I can't supply my own poetic warning to the hero about to go off to war?"

Dean narrowed his eyes. "Gabriel, it would be in your best interests to shut up now."

"Or what, Dean-o?" Gabriel asked.

"Or so help me God I will call Balthazar this instant and tell him to bring Kali to the meeting." Dean watched with satisfaction as Gabriel's face paled considerably.

"Who's Kali?" Castiel asked, watching the exchange with confused amusement.

"Kali's a girl over on _The Avenger_ that was in an on/off relationship with Gabriel for... How many years was it?" Dean asked.

"Three hundred and seventy three," Gabriel reminded him glumly. "And then she dumped me once and for all. I've moved on to someone else, but they don't love me back." The pilot cast a wistful glance in the oblivious moose's direction.

Castiel's eyebrows raised. "You like…" The scientist turned to Dean, eyes wide, before asking quietly, "And you're okay with this?"

"It's better than Kali," Dean admitted. "But Gabriel, if you even dare hurt him…"

Gabriel waved the threat away with a nonchalant movement of his hand. "Yeah, yeah, I should expect imminent and painful bodily harm. Trust me, it's been 5,000 years. I think I get it by now."

"Get what?" Sam asked, pulling his nose out of the book.

"Nothing, Sammy," Dean said, still glaring at Gabriel threateningly.

The pilot's expression turned from wary to gleeful before he turned his chair in Sam's direction. "Watch this, Dean-o. Hey, Sammy?"

"What?" Sam asked, nose back in the book.

"Go on a date with me sometime?" Gabriel asked, grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

Castiel had to surpress a snort at the slideshow of emotions that crossed Sam's face. First, shock. Then, relief as he assumed he had heard wrong. Shock again when he saw the looks on the faces of the others in the room that most decidedly proved he hadn't heard wrong. Last but not least was embarrassment that crept like a pink curtain up his neck and to his face.

"W-What?" Sam sputtered. Dean and Castiel both had to bite their lips to keep from laughing at the gleeful expression on Gabriel's face.

"Are you teasing me?" Sam demanded.

"No, moose. I'm lonely, in love, and tired of being single. Therefore, I asked you out on a date. Capiche?" Gabriel asked, enjoying the conversation way too much.

"In love? What?!" Sam, book forgotten, had risen up out of the chair to stare at Gabriel like he'd grown a mustache and was holding a tray full of purple-polka-dotted kielbasa sausages.

Gabriel sighed. "Honestly, Sammy, it's taken you 5,000 years to figure it out? You've got a nice big moose brain, I'd expect you to be less dense."

"You're in love…with me," Sam restated, still trying to process the conversation.

"Yeah! He gets it!" Gabriel said triumphantly.

Castiel and Dean couldn't hold it in any longer and burst out laughing, the strain of holding the laughter back finally getting to them. They only laughed harder when a blushing Sam grudgingly agreed to go on a date with the grinning pilot of the _Impala_.

"You two," Sam added as an afterthought, "need to shut the hell up."

"We didn't say anything," Dean managed to choke out between laughs. Castiel was completely out of commission, rolling around on the floor and clutching his sides.

"Hey, let them laugh," Gabriel said, wrapping his arms around Sam's waist and pulling the taller vampire into his lap. Dean and Castiel giggled at the expression on Sam's face that could only be described as horrified embarrassment. He looked less like a moose and more like a tomato. "I finally got you. I'm happy."

Sam detached the pilot from his waist. Standing, he blushed and muttered something about waiting in the meeting room. Sam grabbed his book and hid his face behind his hair, still blushing tomato red, before walking out the door and into the meeting room.

Gabriel grinned even harder. "Let's see him recover from that."

"Okay, you're a dickbag, and I hate you for creeping on my little brother. However, I think that's the reddest I've ever seen him, and I'm loving it," Dean said, finally catching his breath. Castiel sat up, catching his breath as well.

"I'm just glad he didn't decide to gut me," Gabriel said. "That wouldn't have been pleasant."

"It would have been fun to watch, but you're the only pilot I got," Dean admitted. "I'd hate to lose you, especially for such a stupid reason as embarrassing my brother."

"But did you see his face?" Gabriel asked, laughing. "He was so shocked that he turned into a tomato. I can't wait for the date itself. He might go from tomato to fireball, and then we'll all be in trouble."

Castiel, fully recovered from the laughing, smiled at the thought. He was happy for Sam, but the whole romance thing was reminding him of something he didn't really want to worry about at the moment.

The scientist knew Dean was in love with him. It was obvious in the way he smiled at Castiel before reaching out a hand to pull him onto his feet. The problem was getting the stubborn vampire to admit his feelings, and Sam had been right. It would be harder than convincing some old vampires to let him go to Earth to find a possibly nonexistent bomb.

Castiel stared into Dean's eyes, searching the emerald depths for something. Dean took the look in stride, returning it to Castiel's cerulean eyes without a second thought.

_Do you love me?_ Castiel wanted to ask. _I love you, Dean. I'm not afraid of you._

But Dean's eyes revealed nothing, so Castiel kept staring, hoping he'd find something there.

A beep sounded from Gabriel's computer, interrupting the congregation of green eyes and blue eyes. "Hey, lovebirds, if you're quite done, the members of the meeting are ready to be beamed over here."

Castiel blushed at the lovebird comment, but he managed to expel the offending flush from his face before the people he was supposed to talk to showed up.

One by one, they appeared on the ship in a halo of golden light. Castiel was surprised to find that Balthazar was only a couple inches taller than him.

"Hello, Castiel. We meet again, I see. You're much more presentable in person," Balthazar said, a light that could only be wry amusement shining in his eyes.

"Nice to meet you, too, Balthazar," Castiel replied dryly.

"Balthazar?" Dean asked. To an untrained human ear, it would seem polite. But Castiel (and the others in the room) knew Dean too well to not understand the unspoken threat.

"Don't worry, Dean, I won't steal him from you," Balthazar said, sauntering into the meeting room.

The three other vampires from _The Avenger _followed him. Castiel assumed the redhead with the slightly murderous expression on her face was Anna. Michael could only be the dark, broody brunette. Alastair was already in the meeting room with the _Impala's _people.

"Hey! You must be Castiel. I'm Kevin." A teenage (or not-so-teenage) boy walked up to Castiel. "I'm the representative from the _Amaterasu_. Dean, Mom couldn't make it. She's busy dealing with a human crisis over on our ship, so she sent me by myself."

"That's probably a good thing," Dean said, smiling. He turned to Castiel. "Kevin's mom is probably the only other person besides Ellen, Bobby, and Sam that is capable of scaring the bejeesus out of me."

"Mom's a badass," Kevin said. "She scares everyone, Dean. You're not the only one. Oh, by the way. Castiel?"

The scientist turned to look at the vampire questioningly. Kevin reached out, pressed a finger to Castiel's nose, and said, "Boop."

Castiel's head cocked to the side in confusion. "What…?"

"It's a habit of mine," Kevin explained. "I don't know why I do it."

Dean smiled at the confused look on Castiel's face. "Let's get this meeting underway, Kevin. Cas? You ready to convince them?"

Castiel nodded determinedly. "Yes, Dean."

The scientist followed a grinning Kevin and a smiling Dean towards the meeting room. Kevin and Dean entered, but Castiel lagged behind. He stood outside the door, took a deep breath, and followed Dean's inviting arm into the room.

The meeting got off to a good start in Castiel's opinion. The vampires began talking about the human crisis that Kevin had mentioned his mother was dealing with. The scientist wasn't consulted about any part of the meeting, so he sat quietly while the vampires talked it out.

"So, Dean, what's the real reason you summoned us?" Balthazar asked, a smirk on his face. "You weren't very clear about the purpose over the comm., just that all the important Elders had to come over to _Impala_ for a meeting."

"We got correspondence from Lucifer, Balthazar," Dean said.

"Lucifer? You get correspondence from him all the time," Anna said. "He's your scientist."

"This was different. Gabriel?" Dean signaled for the pilot to start the video. The lights in the room dimmed and a screen not unlike the one on the crew deck came down from the ceiling. The vampires and Castiel all turned to look at the screen.

The vampires sitting around the table watched Lucifer's journal-entry-like with no comments at all. When the video ended, Dean said, "There's more." He signaled to Gabriel again, the pilot finding the surveillance video and clicking on it with a grim look on his face.

Castiel had seen it at least ten times, sometimes to see if there were any clues about the radiation bomb, other times to study the anatomy of the mutant. No matter how many times he'd watched it, the sight of the mutant ripping Lucifer's throat out made him turn away and hope the man went quickly.

When the video was over, the lights brightened and Dean stood up, hands on the table in a gesture that meant business.

"So, any questions?" He asked.

"What the hell was that thing?" Anna shrieked. She moved to stand but was held back by Balthazar's restricting hand.

"Cas? Can you explain the situation to them?" Dean asked. Castiel nodded and moved to the front of the room.

"What you just saw used to be human. Five thousand years of constant exposure to nuclear radiation and inbreeding has mutated it into something that is not unlike a vampire. From what I've been able to gather from Lucifer's research, they're faster and a little bit stronger than vampires. Their only weakness that was discovered was that they can't be without the nuclear radiation on the surface for more than ten minutes. Lucifer's team figured this out after the ones they captured kept dying," Castiel explained.

"Okay, I understand the threat, but they're down on the surface. Why should we care?" Alastair said, sneering.

"Because they're going to destroy the other laboratories," Balthazar said. "Stand down and let the man speak, Alastair."

"Thank you, Balthazar. Now, Lucifer and his assistants designed a kind of A-bomb that would neutralize all of the radiation in a 100-mile radius. If we managed to get all the mutants together, we could kill them all at once," Castiel informed the vampires.

"How are you planning to build the bomb?" Kevin asked.

"I'm not going to build it. I found evidence in Lucifer's journal that they'd already built a prototype."

"You're going to go to the surface?" Balthazar asked. "That's suicide!"

"Maybe. But if it means saving the only hope you have of returning to Earth without worrying about radiation, then I'm going to do it," Castiel said determinedly.

"What do you mean?" Kevin inquired.

"Lucifer also had research about terraformation. I believe with enough time, you could launch a full-planet terraformation that would effectively get rid of all the radiation and restore the earth to its state before humans ever touched it," Castiel said. "However, we have to get rid of the mutants so we can implant the necessary electrodes in the planet's surface. I studied terraformation in college, and there can't be any interference or it won't work."

"So who are you taking to the surface with you?" Kevin asked.

"I was hoping for a small team of vampires. They need to be trained to fight and willing to go to the surface. All I need is maybe three or four," Castiel said.

"I can arrange that," Dean said. "I have some guys that want to go to the surface."

"I'll also need one of the ships you rescued me in, Dean. I doubt I could make it to the surface without one of them." Castiel quirked a smile at the vampire. Dean returned it.

"It sounds like a good, if suicidal, plan, but what are you going to do when you get the bomb?" Kevin asked.

"I'm going to bring it back to the ship and make some modifications. As soon as I'm done, we can try and get the mutants all together and blast the hell out of them."

"How will you get them to gather?" Balthazar asked.

"I think they feel a predatory urge to kill vampires. It's probably a survival of the fittest thing. If we can get to the base that we know they'll attack next, those vampires will serve as bait. They can go down to the concrete attack bunker that I found on the blueprints and wait there while the mutants flood the base. Then, I'll drop the bomb. It won't actually explode in the usual sense, it'll just release a massive pulse wave that will eradicate any radioactive atoms in the vicinity," Castiel explained.

"It's settled, then," Balthazar said.

Anna stood. "This is insanity. You're letting this…this..human, of all things, lead this mission?! Have you forgotten what you are? We're not meant to associate with our food, Balthazar, much less let it endanger the peaceful life we're living up here."

The entire room held their breath as Balthazar slowly turned to the redhead. "Anna Milton, if you ever speak like that again, I will personally open the airlock and toss your ugly arse out of this ship. I only keep you with me because you're barely useful. Keep that in mind the next time you decide to step this far out of line."

Michael, who had been silent the whole time, spoke up. "I think it's a good idea to have Castiel go on this mission. He's smarter than all of us put together. Except, perhaps, Kevin."

"Yeah, but I've had six thousand years to accumulate my knowledge. How old are you, anyway, Cas?" Kevin asked.

Castiel blushed. "27…"

"And you already know this much?" Kevin gaped in disbelief.

"I graduated high school at a very young age and went to college. I got my PhD before the military approached me. I'd been working in that laboratory for quite a while before I time-traveled here," Castiel informed him, still blushing.

"Cas, I can take care of the ship," Sam spoke from the other side of the room. He'd been sitting and blushing steadily for the entirety of the meeting so far, but seemed to have regained his voice. "I'll get one fuelled up and ready to be surface-bound."

"Like I said, I can take care of the crew. Balthazar and Kevin, I need you guys to keep the hype about this down. Try to keep what you can from your guys until we know the radiation bomb exists. We can't have vamps gunning to go to the surface only to find out that it hasn't been built," Dean informed the two. Kevin and Balthazar nodded.

"Alright, meeting adjourned. I'll talk to you all right before Cas leaves for the surface," Dean said. The vampires all stood and walked out of the room. Castiel walked out second to last, hoping to talk to Dean. He was stopped by a pale hand on his shoulder.

"Don't think for one second that I trust you just because you're Dean Winchester's blood whore," Anna hissed, pushing Castiel up against the wall. "You're still just a harmless piece of food in my opinion. You may have won Balthazar and Michael, but I can still get them to distrust you." She pulled her hand back for a slap.

Castiel closed his eyes, preparing for the impact that never came. Cracking one eye open, he was shocked to see Dean holding Anna up against the opposite wall.

"Do. Not. Touch. Him," Dean said, every word a threat. "Balthazar may find you useful, but I don't. Gabriel!"

The pilot, still sitting at his chair in the meeting room, smirked. "I was waiting for this."

Golden light enveloped Anna and she disappeared. Castiel thought he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked up at the window overlooking space and gasped. Anna was flailing around in the vacuum, her red hair floating. She kept flailing until the cold took hold of her limbs and she died, shock still frozen on her face.

Michael and Balthazar both sighed in unison. "Finally."

Castiel looked over at Dean, shocked. He was leaning against the wall, eyes closed, breathing slowly. Castiel walked over to him and stood in front of him.

"Dean?" He asked. The vampire's eyes shot open and Castiel gasped.

That beautiful emerald green was gone, replaced by a glowing, blood-colored red. Red and blue battled as the vampire and the scientist stared at each other. Dean was the first to look away, lowering his head ashamedly. Castiel raised a hand to Dean's cheek and softly pulled the vampire's face up to look at him.

"You didn't need to do that, but I'm grateful," Castiel said.

"She called you a blood whore, Cas. I heard that and I just lost control, I'm sorry, I…" Dean trailed off as Castiel pulled him into a hug.

"Don't be sorry, Dean," Balthazar said from the other side of the room. "She was a bitch. I would have gotten rid of her myself, but I'd probably get in trouble with the guys on _Avenger_. I'm just glad someone finally got rid of her."

Dean made to pull away from Castiel, but the scientist held fast. "Dean," he whispered quietly, knowing only the vampire could hear him.

"What, Cas?" Dean asked.

"Thank you."

Only then did Castiel let go of a startled Dean. The vampire stayed frozen in place while Castiel wished the visitors goodbye. Balthazar recalled Alastair back to the _Avenger_, much to everyone's delight. Kevin booped Castiel on the nose again and the laughing scientist returned the favor. It was only when everyone was gone that Dean moved again.

"Sam?" Castiel asked. "What's a blood whore?"

Gabriel, Sam, and Dean all visibly cringed at the sound of the phrase. "It's a very derogatory term, Cas. Anna had no right to call you that," Sam replied.

"What does it mean?" Castiel asked.

"Should we tell him, Sammy?" Gabriel asked.

"Why the hell not," Sam said. "He'll hear it again anyway. Cas, vampires have been around for a very long time. They've always needed to feed off of humans. Well, back when it was just my family and I, the feeding process was always terribly painful for humans. Dean hated the fact that the people he had no choice but to feed from were always pained. So, he visited a powerful witch that my family had known for years. The witch cast a spell that would make the feeding painless and distract the human from it. However, there were…side effects."

"What side effects?" Castiel asked, cocking his head to the side.

"Our saliva causes an endorphin rush," Gabriel continued for Sam. "When we bite a human, our bodies release a chemical into our saliva that makes the process bearable for humans. However, it becomes a bit too bearable."

"It causes humans to feel sexual pleasure," Sam said. "It's like an aphrodisiac for them. That witch had a romantic side, always did, and wanted the human to get something out of the feeding, too. So he put that stupid chemical in our saliva."

"If we bite other vampires, they can feel it, but humans feel it a lot stronger. It's why most vampires drink blood out of bags. If it's a vampire-human bonded pair, then we allow them to drink straight from their partner, but the regular vampires have to drink from blood bags," Gabriel continued. "The chemical makes feeding a lot more intimate."

"A blood whore is someone who has sex with a vampire while the vampire is feeding from them. It's not uncommon among bonded pairs, but the term implies someone who does it with multiple vampires, not their mate," Sam said. "Anna using that term implied that you were doing…that with Dean. That's why he lost control and attacked her. We've strictly forbidden the term be used on any of the ships, but it's spoken in dark rooms and abandoned school hallways anyway. She crossed a line, Cas."

Castiel stood, shocked by this information. He glanced over at Dean. The vampire's eyes were still red and he seemed to be visibly bristling. Castiel walked over to him and enveloped him in another hug. "It's okay, Dean."

"No, Cas, it's not. She called you something worse than a slut, worse than whore. How can this be okay?" Dean asked angrily.

"Dean, I've been called worse. I wasn't exactly popular in high school."

Dean chuckled a little at that. "That still doesn't excuse what she called you, Cas."

"It's fine, Dean. She's gone. There's nothing to worry about. Now, are we going to start getting this mission off the ground?" Castiel asked, looking into Dean's now-emerald eyes. The vampire sighed, unable to resist those beautiful blue eyes.

"Sure, Cas. Let's go."

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><p>I hate cliffhangers just as much as the next person, but I had to have somewhere to leave this chapter.<p>

Review, please, and tell me if anyone is OOC!

Also, I realize that the whole "blood whore" thing is from Vampire Academy, and I don't mean to offend anyone or steal anything by using it. I just thought it would be a good way to have Anna insult Cas in a way that would make Dean lose it.

I love you all, and thank you for sticking with this crazy story!


	10. Chapter 10- The Date

Hello, my beautiful readers!

The last chapter was serious as hell, so I'm just gonna leave this here...

Haha, just kidding. Here's your Sabriel date. My rule is: if you don't ship it, don't read it.

There might (there totally will) be smut in this chapter, but it's ok-I will give you fair warning before any clothes come off. Promise.

So, here's everyone's favorite archangel and everyone's favorite moose on a date. What could possibly go wrong?

I don't own anything. Enjoy and review!

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><p>Chapter 10- The Date<p>

Sam was seriously regretting agreeing to go on a date with Gabriel. He'd spent the last hour pacing his quarters, muttering to himself. When he got tired of that, he laid down on the bed and was now staring at the ceiling, long brown hair surrounding his head.

The big question on his mind wasn't what he should wear or what he should say. He didn't know either of them, but neither were as important as what he was trying to decide now.

Should he call Dean for advice or Castiel?

Dean would tease him nonstop for calling his big brother like a little 16-year-old girl panicking about her first date. Castiel was most likely a virgin and probably didn't know a thing about dates.

So, Sam couldn't decide whether he wanted the probable stuttering of the scientist or the teasing from his brother that would probably fade out but return full-force a few centuries from now.

Castiel it was. He wouldn't tease Sam or tell Dean…probably. Sam sighed, resolutely deciding he wouldn't think about this anymore. Standing, he left his quarters and padded to Castiel's.

"Hey Cas?" He asked, knocking on the door.

"Yes, Sam?" The scientist replied. The door slid open to reveal a rather frazzled-looking Sam. Castiel leaned on the doorframe, caught between concern and amusement.

"Can you help me with something?" Sam asked, embarrassed.

"Is this about your date with Gabriel? What do you need help with?" Castiel asked, concern winning the battle—for now.

"Yeah, it's about my date. I don't know what to wear or what to say or—oh god, Cas, what if I fuck it up?" Sam seemed to be panicking. Castiel reached out and put a comforting hand on the large vampire's arm.

"It's okay, Sam. Take me back to your quarters and I'll help you pick an outfit."

Sam quietly led Castiel to his room, sitting on the bed only after the scientist insisted that he not get in the way. Castiel rummaged around in Sam's closet, returning triumphantly with a gray t-shirt and a light blue button-up. He tossed the shirts to Sam before returning to the clothes. A couple minutes later, he returned triumphantly brandishing a pair of nice-ish jeans.

"You want me to go casual?" Sam asked, confused.

"Oh, I forgot. Gabriel wasn't going to tell you, but you're having dinner on the Observation Deck. It's just going to be the two of you. Crowley's going to send some special vampire food up, whatever that means," Castiel said. He waved the shirts in front of Sam, raising an eyebrow and completing his 'get dressed or else' expression.

Sam reluctantly put on the shirts and slid on the pants while Castiel rummaged around in his closet some more. The scientist returned from the unknown with a hairbrush in his hands. He turned toward Sam, holding a hand up to stop the protests he knew were about to erupt from the moose's mouth.

"You look almost as bad as that time that you had bedhead, Sam. Your hair is everywhere. I can take care of it," Castiel said. He moved over to Sam and started pulling the brush gently through the vampire's hair.

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><p>Sam walked nervously toward the door to the Observation Deck, swallowing unnecessarily. He took a deep breath, remembering Castiel's surprisingly helpful advice. He'd falsely assumed that the scientist didn't have any experience, but he seemed unexpectedly knowledgeable.<p>

Sam opened the door to find a grinning Gabriel sitting at a table. "Hey-o, Moose! I was wondering when you'd show up."

Sam smiled nervously, shutting the door behind himself and going over to sit across from Gabriel. The shorter vampire's eyes widened as he looked Sam over. "Wow, you look good. You smell like Castiel, though. Did you ask him for help with your outfit?"

Sam had to laugh at that. "It was either that or have Dean tease me for the next three centuries."

Gabriel winced, knowing that it was entirely possible that Dean would do that. " I feel ya there, Sam. So, you up for food?"

Sam nodded and sat in silence while Gabriel ordered their food from Crowley. There were a few less-than-savory words from the eloquently-tongued chef, but the food was sent up to them a few minutes later.

"I think Crowley has the most extensive vocabulary of anyone on this ship," Gabriel said.

Sam laughed. "Yeah, he does. He's had, what was it, 7,000 years to accumulate his knowledge? Besides, he was born and raised in Scotland. Frankly, I'm surprised his language isn't as bad as it could be."

"Amen to that," Gabriel said, raising his glass of synthetic blood. Sam raised his and lightly knocked it against the other vampire's glass. They ate their meals, exchanging small talk. When they were done, Sam leaned back, stretching lightly.

"So why did you ask me on this date, Gabriel? I know you said in the Crew Deck before the meeting that you loved me, but you're the infamous Trickster. You're not gonna dump a bucket of gelatin on me, are you?" Sam asked warily, glancing up and around himself.

Gabriel looked a little hurt, but he covered it up with a grin. "What do you think, Moosey? Do I love you?"

Sam looked back at the vampire. "I think you do, but I don't know. Do you?"

Gabriel's grin turned into a wistful smile. "Yes, Sam. I love you."

Sam, former confidence forgotten, blushed. Gabriel smiled. _Fireball status, here we come!_, he thought gleefully.

"I…I don't know what to say," Sam said, blushing even harder.

"You could say that you love me back, but that's fine. You don't need to," Gabriel said gently. "I can stand to wait for you. I've waited for almost 5,000 years anyway."

Sam looked up, surprised. "You've been in love with me that long?"

"Almost that long," Gabriel corrected. "Maybe 4,700 subtracting that one period where Kali and I were on/off."

"Did Dean know before you asked me out?" Sam asked, blushing even harder.

"Yeah. He was there when I broke up with Kali once and for all. I told her I loved someone else. He wouldn't let me off until I told him who it was. When I told Dean that it was you, he was surprisingly acceptful. The only thing he did was tease me for about fifty years, but he got over it and reluctantly agreed that I could have you," Gabriel replied, smiling a little at the memory.

Sam stared at his hands on the table, shifting nervously. He felt like a total and complete dense idiot for not realizing that Gabe loved him sooner.

Gabriel recognized the look on Sam's face and stood up, going to stand behind Sam. He grabbed one of the moose's hands off of the table and folded it between his own.

"Sam, listen to me." Sam turned around to look at Gabriel who was standing in front of him. With Sam sitting and Gabriel standing, the Trickster was finally taller than the moose.

"There was no way you would have ever figured it out, Sam. It took all my tricks, but I managed to hide it from you this long. The other day before the meeting, I was just tired of hiding. I'm sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable, but I just wanted you to know how I feel about you," Gabriel said.

Sam shook his head. "I'm not uncomfortable, Gabriel. I just want to know why you didn't tell me sooner."

"I was afraid, Sam. Afraid of you rejecting me, afraid of Dean hurting me if I broke your heart." Sam smiled at that.

"So anyway, you can go back to your quarters now. I just wanted a chance to eat with you and get my feelings out there," Gabriel said. "Talking with you today made me happier than I've been in years."

He made a move to stand and remove his hands from Sam's, but he was stopped when Sam's other hand wrapped around his. Gabriel looked down at Sam, who stood and rose to his full height.

"I never actually told you to leave, Gabriel. And I didn't say I wanted to, either," Sam stated. He smiled at Gabriel, who returned the smile a little hesitantly. The shape of his smile didn't matter in the next second, however, when Sam leaned down and pressed their lips together.

* * *

><p>Now this is a story, all about how<p>

There's gonna be smut right here and now

So I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there

I'll tell y'all how you can get the hell out of here

Smut alert! Don't like it, get the hell out of dodge. Don't worry, this will end the chapter, so you can just close out if you don't like it. If you leave hate just for the sake of leaving hate, I will sic Crowley and his Scottish cuss words after you. It's not fun. Trust me. Anyway, if you want to see Sabriel smut, keep scrolling. If you're here for the plot, A. You probably shouldn't be reading this story and B. Just close out here and now.

Anyway, my loyal fangirls (and fanboys, I don't judge), enjoy this smut. I worked hard (haha pun) on it.

(side note I was listening to I Want to Know What Love Is while writing this and I am not ashamed at all)

* * *

><p>Gabriel groaned and reached up to put his arms around Sam. It was a bit hard due to the height difference, but he did it somehow. Sam laughed into the kiss and leaned down farther so Gabriel could get a better grip on his back. Gabriel groaned again when Sam's tongue slid across his lower lip, silently asking for entrance. Gabriel granted it willingly, opening his mouth and laughing when Sam's hold on him trembled a bit.<p>

"Want to move this to the couch?" Gabriel asked, somehow finding the willpower to pull himself away from that absolutely _addictive_ mouth to ask the question.

"Maybe," Sam said. He pulled Gabriel back to him and backed the smaller vampire up, pushing him onto the couch as soon as they reached it.

Gabriel giggled a little bit at the sight of Sam trying to arrange himself on the couch as to fit comfortably, but he soon forgot his amusement when their lips met again. One of Sam's hands settled itself on the armrest that Gabriel's head was resting on, and the other was currently doing some _very_ nice things to Gabriel's stomach. Sam wasn't trying to move the kiss along, Gabriel could tell, but he sure wanted to. It was obvious in the hard lines of his body that he was trying to hold back.

"Sam?" Gabriel managed between kisses.

"Yeah?" Sam asked, sliding his hand up under Gabriel's shirt.

"If you don't move this along, I'm afraid I'll have to kill you."

Sam looked down at Gabriel, amusement in his eyes. "Oh really? And what makes you think you could take me?"

"Well," Gabriel said, using his vampire strength to flip them over so that Sam's head was on the armrest and Gabriel was straddling his waist, "the fact that I could so easily do that, for one." He leaned back in and kissed Sam again, slowly unbuttoning the dress shirt that Castiel had picked out for him.

Sam laughed. "You do realize I let you do that? I could have us right back where we were in about .6 seconds."

"I know," Gabriel said, smiling into the kiss.

Sam made a noise of approval and pulled Gabriel's t-shirt off, chucking it into some remote corner of the room. Gabriel did the same to Sam's shirt, both taking a moment to stare at the other. Gabriel caressed the tattoo on Sam's left pectoral. "When'd you get this?"

"It was custom in our tribe that when a boy reached age 16, he was considered a man. They gave the man a tattoo wherever he wanted it and whatever pattern he wanted it. I chose the same design that Dean did when he was 16, but he was out of the village when I got mine. He ran away after Dad turned him."

"Fascinating story, Moose. Can we get back to making out now?" Sam's laugh was muffled when Gabriel leaned down and kissed him again, sliding his hands up and down Sam's sides.

Sam returned the gesture, scratching lightly down Gabriel's back and loving the shiver he got from the smaller vampire.

"As much as I like this," Sam said, exerting a very large amount of willpower to ignore Gabriel's hands for a minute, "I don't think we should be doing this on a couch."

"As much as I don't want to stop," Gabriel said, continuing his hand movements on Sam's sides, "I agree with you. Let's go to my quarters."

They both got up off of the couch and walked out of the room, retrieving their shirts. It took almost ten minutes to make it to Gabriel's quarters because they couldn't keep their hands or mouths to themselves for very long and had shared random kisses in the hallway. Sam had pushed Gabriel up against the wall of the teleporter and kissed the life out of the smaller vampire. They had ended up scarring one of the minor crew members who was minding her own business on Gabriel's floor, waiting for the teleporter to quit glowing so she could step inside it.

Finally, finally, they made it to Gabriel's room. Gabriel had just enough time to close the door before Sam tackled him onto the bed and started ravishing his mouth again. Gabriel eagerly accepted the kiss, wrapping his arms around Sam's back and scratching his nails down Sam's back. The taller vampire shuddered lightly before moving his hand from Gabriel's stomach to lightly brush over the bulge in the smaller vampire's pants. Gabriel moaned, arching at the touch, but Sam wasn't going to let him have anything. As soon as Sam heard the moan, he moved his hand over to Gabriel's hip.

"Sam Winchester, you are a fucking tease," Gabriel growled into the kiss. He wiggled his body around until he could wrap his legs around Sam's hip before lightly grinding up onto him. "But lucky for you," Gabriel added with a smirk before pulling his hips back to the bed, "so am I."

Sam growled, pushing his hips down into Gabriel's. Both men moaned as their still-clothed erections made contact.

"Why are we still wearing pants?" Gabriel managed to say between kisses and moans.

"I don't know, but let's get rid of them." Sam broke the kiss, smirking at Gabriel. He lightly bit and kissed down the smaller vampire's neck, moving his hands down to Gabriel's hip. The pilot moaned when Sam's teeth brushed against his nipple, and he grabbed onto Sam's long hair.

"Easy, Gabe. We're not even to the good part yet." Sam stayed on his path, kissing down Gabriel's chest and abdomen before lightly kissing right above Gabriel's pants.

The pilot gasped as Sam started undoing his pants _with his teeth_. Where was the blushing fireball of a moose from earlier? Gabriel knew Sam wasn't a virgin; he'd been around for almost 10,000 years. He had to have had some action along the way, but Gabriel had never seen him with anyone in the 5,000 years the _Impala _had been in the air. Where had he learned this?

Gabriel's pants were unceremoniously yanked off and thrown into some corner, but the vampire was past caring. Sam was doing something absolutely _wonderful_ with his mouth that made him never want to care again. Soon Gabriel's boxers joined the party of clothes strewn across the floor, and Sam leaned back to look at his new lover in all his glory.

"You're wearing too many clothes," Gabriel commented helpfully. Sam laughed and shed his pants and boxers, throwing them off the bed and ravishing Gabriel's mouth again. Both vampires moaned into the kiss when their now naked arousals brushed each other.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Gabriel?" Sam asked, concern in his eyes.

"Kid, I've been waiting _centuries_ for this. I'm not gonna stop now," Gabriel replied. "What we need is in the nightstand to your right."

Sam reached into the drawer, fingers closing around a bottle of lube. He popped the cap and spread some on his fingers, deciding not to comment on the fact that it was half-empty. He dragged his hands down Gabriel's body, briefly stroking his erection before moving to Gabriel's entrance.

Gabriel had decided that this was possibly the best decision of his life, and he was loving every minute of what Sam's fingers were doing. He moaned when two became three and the trio was rubbing against his prostate. A small whimper of loss escaped him when Sam's fingers were pulled back, but he knew he had to lose them in order for the next part of this to happen.

Sam rubbed the remaining lube onto his arousal before situating himself between Gabriel's legs.

"Are you ready?" The taller vampire asked.

Gabriel spread his legs, a smirk on his face. "Bring it, Moose."

Sam growled and pounced on him.

_Yeah,_ Gabriel thought. _Best. Idea. Ever._


End file.
